Harry Potter and the Stone of Twilight Dawn
by Desiree
Summary: Suspended Check my other story for details. Fifth year fic. I rather not divulge anything in a summary so please read on. and do rr...
1. Holidays…Birthday…And A Surprise…

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: This story has a little of every genre so just enjoy reading it. I'll complete the story but it's long and will take quite some time so please r/r while waiting. Another note is that the couples at the beginning don't necessarily mean that they will be still a couple at the end. This is my first fiction so I don't mind if you even flame me. Before I bore you to death, let's begin…

Holidays…Birthday…And A Surprise…

Lying on his bed on his first night back with the Dursleys, Harry could not stop his mind from recalling the events of the previous school year yet again. Images kept flashing through his mind. From his duel with Voldemort to Cedric's death to Cho's tear-stricken face, it just would not stop. Just then, he heard a soft knocking sound. Thinking that it was an owl, Harry turned to the window but there was nothing there. He tried to put it off as his imagination working overtime but the knock came louder this time. This time, he recognized it as a door knock. Wondering what the Dursleys would want at this time of the night, he trotted to open the door. But before he could, the thought that the Dursleys would just barge in instead of knocking struck him. He hesitated before muttering "What the hell…" and threw open the door. He was astonished to see Dudley standing there, looking a little fearful. "Let me in before my parents wake up," Dudley uttered as Harry motioned for him to enter. Standing before each other, neither knew what to say before Dudley broke the silence.

"Uh…I wondered if anything was wrong cause you seem to be rather troubled and silent," Dudley finally said.

"What? Don't tell me you care?" Harry replied before he could stop himself as Dudley flinched at his words.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for," Harry said again after a moment of tense silence.

"It's alright. We've treated you badly over the years. I never realized how much you suffered until my school sent me to some army training camp earlier this year. I suffered a lot but then I realized that you had been living with us for worse. I regret all that but I know that my parents still don't." Dudley explained. "Well, don't you think I look fitter," said Dudley, trying to ease the tension. (A/N: I admit that Dudley's character is too much to the extreme.)

"Yeah, you do," Harry smiled in return.

"So…what's troubling you? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Dudley asked again.

"A student from Hog- my school died." Harry replied.

"Well, were you two close? And you can say your school's name if my parents aren't listening." Dudley said.

"Thanks. Anyway…" Harry launched into the events of that fateful night and seemed to be less troubled after telling all that he had kept within him since the incident.

"So let me get this straight. Your worst nemesis, this Voldemort fellow, is trying to kill you. You think you are responsible for this Cedric's death and you like his girlfriend or should I say ex-." Dudley tried to understand.

"That's about it except Voldemort is not only after me, though I'm his primary target, but after the whole world too. Even Muggles are in danger." Harry replied.

"Muggles?" Dudley was confused.

"They are non-wizarding folk like you." Harry explained.

******************************

As the days passed, Dudley and Harry became closer and seemed to be acting more like cousins. They spent quite some time together and even work out together. Therefore, Dudley became more normal-sized and Harry… Oh well, Harry matured over the holidays and now looked like a Greek god with muscles and facial hair appearing, his voice deepening and of course, he grew taller. (A/N: I think I'm going to the extreme again but I can't help myself =).)

But even though Dudley's attitude towards Harry had changed, Vernon and Petunia were still as bad as ever. They discouraged Dudley from associating with Harry but since they couldn't bring themselves to deny their precious son anything, they could not stop the growing friendship.

Owl post also arrived frequently from Ron and Hermione and most unexpectedly from Cho Chang. He could still remember his shock at seeing a strange owl one day and was stunned when he found out that the letter was from Cho. He could even recall Dudley laughing at his surprised face. She had wanted to ask about Cedric's death as the Diggorys only told her bits and pieces of it and as for Professor Dumbledore, he just told her what he told the school and that was actually nothing. Though he was hesitant at first, as he did not want to relive the incident once again, he obliged as he felt that she deserved the truth. "After all, she was Cedric's girlfriend," he cringed at the thought. But that one letter became many letters and they became good friends through the post.

He still worried about Sirius as there was seldom mail from him but he trusted that he would get a letter if anything went dreadfully wrong. He sure hoped that all the plans to defend against Voldemort were in order.

Before he knew it, the holidays were half gone and his birthday approached. Well, at least he did not have to celebrate it himself this year. He had Dudley for company.

******************************

On the night of his birthday, he couldn't sleep, as this was the first time he had someone to celebrate it with. Dudley snuck into his room and they started to countdown. At the stroke of midnight, Harry got to hear his first 'Happy Birthday' from Dudley and received his first present – a HP Jornada – from him too.

"Thanks Dud. But this is way too expensive. You shouldn't have." Harry said.

"Well, I just want to give you something nice after the years of bad treatment." Dudley said, pleased that Harry liked his present.

At that moment, five owls, including his own Hedwig, flew in and Harry started to read the letters and open the presents.

_Dear Harry,_

Happy Birthday! Hope you like the present we got for you. All the Weasleys pitched in for it and it's really good. It is a trunk with many different compartments that can be keyed to open and close to your own password and can be reduced in size too. There's an instructional manual somewhere to tell you how to set it. Here, everything's fine. Dad, Percy, Bill and Charlie are more busy that ever, trying to round-up more people to defend against You-Know-Who. I wanted you to come over to live with us but Dumbledore said no. Anyway, with Dudley being nicer, I guess life is better there. See you soon.

_Ron_

_ _

_P.S. Oh, I forgot to ask when you are going to Diagon Alley to get your stuff. I'll be there on the last week before school starts. Maybe we can meet there. Bye._

Examining the gift with Dudley, he could only 'Ooh' and 'Aah' at it. Anyway, his trunk was in a condition for changing so this came at a right time. Writing a note of 'Thanks' to Ron and the rest of the Weasleys, he sent Pig on his way and turned to examine the other presents.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! I'm having loads of fun in Bulgaria with Victor. We have really become close friends, but nothing more. With some help from Victor, I found these two great books that are like the Bible for seekers or so Victor says. Anyway, have fun and take care._

_Hermione._

Harry grinned as he read the letter. From the package, he could already tell that it was books inside. Trust Hermione to find a so-called 'Bible for Seekers'. Well, if anyone could find it, it would be she.

Next was the tawny, barn owl he recognized as Hogwarts.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hope you like this present. Happy Birthday!_

_I'm fine and on Hogwarts business with Olympe._

Take care and don't let those Muggles maltreat you.

_Hagrid_

Enclosed was a locket with his parents' photo on one side and his on the other. He almost cried when he saw it. Even Dudley understood the private moment and kept silent. After a moment, Harry picked up the letter with the Hogwarts seal and noticed that there were two of them. Naturally curious, he picked the thicker one first.

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_Congratulations, you have been made a prefect. A book on your duties and such is enclosed. There is also a prefect meeting on the first day of school._

_Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross Station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock._

_A list of books for next year is enclosed._

_ _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

At that moment, Harry noticed a wrapped package that he had overlooked. It contained the book that Professor McGonagall mentioned and his prefects' badge. He was absolutely thrilled to be a prefect and wondered if Ron and Hermione were one too. He recalled that Cho was a prefect and blushed at the thought.

Seeing Harry's face, Dudley could not help but ask, "What's got you so excited?"

"I'm a prefect," Harry sang out loud with Dudley's laughter in the background.

Both of them, remembering that Vernon and Petunia were asleep, silenced at once. Harry remembered the other envelope from Hogwarts and unfolded it at once. He could not contain his shock at reading it and shoved the letter towards Dudley for him to read.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_ _

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

_ _

_Dear Mr Dursley,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We seem to have missed out on you earlier and would like to welcome you to our school. Since those of your age are at their fifth year, you would join them there but you would also take some beginner classes as well due to your late start. _

_Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term begins 1 September._

_ _

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

"Oh my…I'm a wizard." Dudley exclaimed.

"You're a wizard," Harry exclaimed at the same time and they both ended up laughing.

"What would your parents say," Harry said solemnly after the bout of laughter.

"I don't care what they say. No matter what happens, I'm going." Dudley replied with a force of determination.

"I guess we could discuss it with them," Harry said tentatively.

"Well, I'm so happy to be going to school with you. This has got to be the best day of my life." Dudley tried to change the subject.

"Of course. It's my birthday," Harry joked.

"Aren't you going to open the rest of your presents?" Dudley asked.

"Oh yeah. The excitement made me forget." Harry laughed it off.

_Dear Harry,_

_Just wanna wish my godson a Happy Birthday!_

_I think you're gonna like your birthday present. Why don't you open it before you read on?_

Harry immediately pounced on the long package he recognized to be from Sirius and was amazed that he had gotten another broom when the Firebolt was still working fine. He also noticed the Marauder's Map enclosed. "He must be filthy rich," Harry grinned as he thought of his godfather.

"Wow," Dudley exclaimed upon seeing the gleaming broomstick.

_It's the best broomstick available at the moment and I thought my godson should only own the best. It's called a Laser and was just available in the market a few days ago. Actually, it's from both me and Moony and we do hope that you like it. _("Are you kidding? I love it." Harry chuckled as he read on.)_ Also enclosed is the Marauder's Map with specially enhanced features. We heard that you lost yours and so we made one for you. It only works at your command and has many protective spells. You can figure out the other features on your own._

_Don't worry too much about me. I'm fine and helping Dumbledore with the defense against Voldemort. Don't go looking for trouble all right and send me an owl if there's anything amiss. I'll be at Hogwarts at times so see you then._

_Snuffles_

"That's your godfather?" Dudley asked.

"Yes. He's the closest person to me. He used to be my only relative but now I also have you." Harry replied.

"He sounds nice and fun." Dudley said.

"He is nice and fun," grinned Harry in return.

"Well, you have one more present. What are you waiting for?" Dudley asked.

"It's Cho's owl and I wonder what she got me," Harry blushed as he replied.

"Well, it feels like a book," Harry said dreamily.

"Just get on with it or I'll open it for you," Dudley said, exasperated with Harry.

"Alright, alright," Harry snapped out of it and opened the letter.

_Dearest Harry,_

_Happy Birthday to you!_

_How are you lately? Just wondering as we haven't conversed in about a week. *Grins* Well, you're probably wondering what I got you. Don't worry, it's not a book even though I'm from Ravenclaw =). It's a calendar that would remind you of any occasion on that day. I hope you like it. Hope to see you at Diagon Alley soon. If not, then we'll just see each other at King's Cross. Bye._

_Cho_

He unwrapped her present gently and treated it preciously. It was beautiful and made of wood. When you open it, it will be set at the day's date, listing all the occasions celebrated that day. You can even put in your friends birthday or any other occasion and program it to say it aloud too. Harry loved it immediately.

"You should have seen the way you treated the gift and that smile on your face," Dudley teased.

"Well, it's late. We better get to sleep," a flushed Harry said as he pushed Dudley out of the room.

That night, he did not have any of his usual nightmares but dreamt sweet dreams of Cho instead.

******************************

Morning approached and both Harry and Dudley were sitting nervously around the breakfast table, thinking of how to break the news. They still haven't thought of anything when Petunia started ordering Harry about to do house chores as usual. But Dudley broke in before she could continue.

"Mum, Dad, I'm a wizard," Dudley tried to say candidly.

"You're a WHAT?" Petunia stated.

"Don't say that word in my house," Vernon said at the same time.

After a long talk or in fact a shouting fest, Dudley was allowed to go to Hogwarts as long as he severs all ties with magic when with his parents. And of course, they blamed it all on Harry.

******************************

Later in Harry's room, Dudley was really excited. He was eager to see Harry's friends and even Hogwarts and kept bombarding Harry with questions. Harry smiled to see Dudley's excitement, remembering his own when he realized that he was a wizard. He finally pushed Dudley off to sleep when it seemed that he would go on and on throughout the night.

Soon September approached. Vernon and Petunia had been trying to ignore the fact that Dudley is a wizard since the day he told them. Vernon agreed to send them to Diagon Alley the day before school reopens but said that he was not going to step into that 'filthy' place with them. Neither seemed to mind as they could have more fun without Vernon. They were also to stay the night at the Leaky Cauldron and take a taxi to King's Cross Station the next day. Vernon would give Dudley more that enough money for all his stuff but that was all.


	2. Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: Aw…I'll get a big head with your praises but please continue to r/r.

Diagon Alley

At first Dudley could not see the Leaky Cauldron. Now he wondered where Diagon Alley actually was. When Harry took out his wand to show Dudley the first glimpse of Diagon Alley, Dudley could only dazedly step in. He was so amazed by the many different shops and the amount of people there. They had checked into a room at the Leaky Cauldron earlier and were now shopping for their school supplies.

First, Harry brought Dudley to Gringotts to change his Muggle money into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. Dudley was still staring all over, wide-eyed in wonder, until the breakneck pace to Harry's vault in Gringotts made him snap out of it. He was amazed to see the amount of money Harry had even though Harry had already told him about his parents leaving him some money. Harry took some money and then off they went.

At Flourish and Blotts, they got their books and stationery. Dudley had to get a mixture of first year and fifth year books. He was also actually staring at the stacks of different books in wonder until Harry pulled him away. They went into shop after shop to get their supplies and even Ollivanders for Dudley's wand that did not take too long to choose him. They both also went to Madam Malkin to get their robes. Harry's ones were too small for him and he had also wanted to get new dress robes while Dudley needed to get fitted for his new robes too. Dudley also decided not to get an owl as he could share Harry's when necessary and he thought that his parents would probably strangle his owl if he sent a letter home with it. Finally, they were done with all the school stuff. They went to dump all their purchases into their room and then headed for an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor and also to go to Harry's favorite Quality Quidditch Supplies. When they reached the shop after enjoying their delicious ice cream, they noticed a crowd there staring at the newly arrived Laser. Also there, in the midst of the crowd, was Harry's long-time nemesis, Draco Malfoy.

"Potter, who's that Mudblood with you?" sneered Malfoy. 

"That's my cousin and it's none of your business." Harry retorted.

At that moment, Ron and Hermione arrived and seeing Harry and Malfoy at odds, they immediately came to back him up.

"Back off Malfoy, wait till you fall in love with one. Then I'll be the one laughing," said Hermione who had overheard their conversation.

And before all of their astonished eyes, a faint flush appeared on Malfoy's face and he actually backed off.

"Hey, where are your folks?" Harry said to Ron and Hermione. 

"We got here just in time to save your butt. Shouldn't you thank us instead of asking about our families?" Ron joked. 

"Yeah, thanks. By the way, I was in total control of the situation." Harry replied with a grin. "Oh and this is my cousin, Dudley." Turning to Dudley, he motioned, "And that is Ron and this is Hermione." 

"Well, he sure looks different since I last saw him." Ron exclaimed. 

"You were much bigger before." Hermione added. 

"But you've never seen me," a confused Dudley said to Hermione. 

"Harry's described you often enough," Hermoine smiled in reply. 

Before Dudley could reply to that, Harry, trying to change the subject, said, "Let's go into the shop. I want to check out on some new Quidditch supplies."

As they walked in, Ron was excitedly talking to Harry about the new Laser broomstick while Hermione left for the bookshop. Dudley was just looking around the shop on his own. "It's supposed to be almost twice as fast as the Firebolt at full speed. With it, you can beat everyone hollow." Ron said rapidly in excitement before continuing with a grin, "Not that you can't beat everyone at the moment." 

"Thanks for your vote of confidence," Harry laughed. 

"Oh and Fred and George bought the whole family Nimbus two thousand and ones. I wonder where they got the money from." Ron rambled on. 

"Really, that's great. I was going to offer you my Firebolt now that I got a Laser for my birthday but that's fine. I'll just keep it for spare." Harry said with a secret smile to himself. 

"What? You got a Laser. You've got to be kidding. Who could be so rich as to give that to you? I heard that it costs like the same amount as a car." Ron exclaimed. 

"Well, there's only one person who's rich and would buy me such presents. You know him too." Harry had an annoying grin on his face. 

"Sirius," Ron suddenly said. 

"Shush, you don't want the whole world to know, do you? Yeah, it was he. Moony contributed to it too." Harry replied. 

"Moony?" Ron was confused for a while before continuing, "Oh, it's Lupin."

At that moment, Dudley came up saying that he wanted a broomstick too. It was just that he did not know how to fly.

"I don't think you'll be joining the first years for their flying lessons but I'll teach you if you want." Harry offered.

Dudley's eyes immediately lit up and he pulled Harry around, asking advice on which broom to buy and if he needed any other gear and such. In the end, Dudley settled for a Nimbus two thousand and one. Harry thought that the Firebolt or even the Laser would be too difficult for an amateur to handle. Harry also found a broom-servicing kit that just came out and had more features than the one he had so he bought it.

That evening, they all had dinner at the Leaky Cauldron with all the Weasleys (A/N: Yes, I mean all and that includes all their children too =)) and Hermione's parents. Throughout dinner and beyond, Ginny could not stop staring at Harry and daydreaming, "It seemed impossible for Harry Potter to look even better but he looks fantastic…Oh, that magnificent build…" Fred and George noticed her dreamy looks and her constant staring at Harry. They deduced her thoughts and teased her until it seemed that her face could not go even redder.

Harry either did not notice it or ignored it as he spent all his time joking or just exchanging news or discussing Quidditch. But unknown to all, at the back of his mind, he was sad that he never got to see Cho at Diagon Alley today. These days, if he was not thinking of Voldemort's return, he would be thinking about Cho, wondering how did she classify their relationship, that they were just friends or more and if they could be more than just friends this coming year. He soon pushed these thoughts away, replacing it with better ones, which consisted of seeing Cho the next day. He was really eager and looking forward to it though he still did not know what he would say to her when he first saw her.

Dudley was having the time of his life. He was making new friends and enjoying himself in this homey atmosphere. It felt much better than always being coddled by his parents. The rest also started liking this 'new' Dudley and were amazed at his changed while still learning more about him.

******************************

Morning soon approached and Mr and Mrs Weasley had to pull all of them out of bed. They had chatted long into the night and were all sleepyheads in the morning. After a lot of moaning and groaning, they were all finally awake and ready to go. Those who could apparate, apparated to King's Cross Station while the rest took the Muggle taxi there. It was quite a squeeze, with five of them (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dudley) in one taxi. Even though they were tired and wanted to take a nap on the journey there, they couldn't as it was way too squeezed to even sit properly. Soon they were all wishing that the sooner this ride ended, the better.

Noticing Harry's edginess, Ron teased, "Eager to see Malfoy, Harry?" 

Harry immediately retorted with a resounding no and said, "I was eager to see Snape."

At that, all of them except Dudley, who did not know what they were talking about, laughed. That made them all less tense and eased them up for the rest of the uncomfortable ride.

Seeing Dudley's confused face, they all also spent the time telling him about Snape and the awful Slytherins.

******************************

Finally, they reached King's Cross Station. They hurriedly unloaded their trunks and took turns to enter the barrier that led to platform nine and three-quarters. Dudley was a little hesitant about crashing into a wall at first but he made it through after seeing the others sliding through easily.


	3. Platform Nine And Three-Quarters & On Th...

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

Platform Nine And Three-Quarters

&

On The Hogwarts Express

Arriving on platform nine and three-quarters, they could all see many students and parents there. The Hogwarts Express was already filled with students streaming in and out. Dudley had prepared himself for this, but his jaws still dropped as this was beyond even his imagination. The group laughed at Dudley before pulling him over to where the elder Weasleys who had apparated there were waiting. While Dudley continued to look about dazedly, the Ron and Harry went to grab an empty carriage for them. Of course, they were not going to do all the work of piling the trunks in. Harry was pulling Dudley over to help them when Angelina Johnson, the Gryffindor chaser walked over.

"Hey Harry, can I see you, Ron and Hermione for a second?" Angelina requested.

"Sure, so how's your holidays been? Had fun?" Harry replied before hollering for Ron and Hermione and pointing Dudley to their carriage.

"It's great. I even spent some time brushing up on Quidditch. We're going to win the Cup this year." Angelina grinned confidently.

"Of course. We have the best team around." Grinned Harry in return.

"Oh, don't be so sure. We're ready for anything Gryffindor can muster," came a voice from behind.

"Hi Cho," Angelina said.

"Hey head girl. How are your first few minutes in duty? I can see you're already boasting of your Quidditch skills." Cho teased.

"What head girl? Ah, I see that you don't even tell your own house member that you're a head girl. By the way, congrats." Harry lamented with a grin on his face.

"Thanks Harry. I just didn't get to it yet." Angelina replied before continuing in a mock-serious manner, "And beware Chang, I can take points from you for that."

"Yes, madam head girl." Cho replied, a smile playing on her lips.

"Anyway, what's taking Ron and Hermione so long?" Angelina asked.

"God knows. But then I can think of many possibilities." Harry said mischievously.

They all started laughing and were just talking about how each of their holidays went when Ron and Hermione finally turned up. At the same moment, a Ravenclaw girl called for Cho who smiled apologetically before leaving to find out what that girl wanted.

"Hi Angelina." Ron said before turning to Harry to ask, "What did you want us for."

Harry motioned to Angelina and said, "She wanted to see all of us."

"So what's up Angelina?" Hermione asked.

"Well, just wanted to remind you guys of the prefects meeting tonight and that there's a 'Prefects Only' carriage up front. And also, the prefects' common room has no password. There's a square box outside which scans for your handprint. All of yours are already programmed so it should be no problem." Angelina replied.

"Oh alright, thanks for telling us." Hermione said.

"And before you ask, yes, I'm head girl. Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain is head boy. See Harry, I said I was going to tell you later." Angelina teased.

"Too late," Harry joked back.

"I'll see you all later. I got to check on the first years." Angelina left on that note.

"So you two are prefects too, huh." Hermione said with a grin before continuing, "I never imagined even one, much less all three of us would be made a prefect after the amount of rules we have broken."

"Hermione, we both know that you were a shoo-in from looking at your results." Ron groaned.

"And you did not even tell us that you were a prefect." Harry added.

"Well, neither did either of you." Hermione retorted.

"I just thought…erm…I'd find out if either of you were one first. It would be weird if only one or two of us were so…" Harry tried to explain.

"We get what you're saying. That's what we thought too." Ron said after sharing a mutual look of understanding with Hermione.

"By the way, what were you two doing earlier? Took you guys so long to come." Harry asked.

"We were introducing Dudley to the rest of the Gryffindors." Hermione replied.

"Oh, I thought it was something more interesting." Harry said with a cheeky grin, while both Ron and Hermione blushed.

They started walking back to their carriage when Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to face with Cho for the second time that day. Ron saw who it was and started to pull Hermione, who was staring at them, away. Harry was just staring at Cho, unable to think of a thing to say. At least Angelina was with them just now, but now that he was alone with her, he just couldn't speak. Owl correspondence was one thing but now she was right in front of him.

"Let's leave them alone," whispered Ron to Hermione who didn't budge from his discreet nudging.

"Huh…oh…alright," Hermione came out of her stupor. She had been thinking of her strange feelings towards Harry over the holidays. She had even broke up with Krum due to her uncertainty over her own feelings. Now seeing him with Cho, she was more than certain that she had fallen in love with him. She admitted to herself that she was jealous and even entertained thoughts of snatching him away from Cho. She realized that she had started loving him from reading about him in books and finally getting to know him in their first year just sealed her feelings for him.

At that moment, Ron was also thinking furiously. Why does Hermione have that dreamy look on her face? Who's she thinking of? He had finally come to terms with his feelings for her and realized that he was jealous over who Hermione was thinking of. "It's probably Krum," he thought as he still did not know that they had broken up.

They both made their way to the rest of the Weasleys to say their goodbyes and listened to another bout of warnings from Mrs Weasley for the coming school year. After that, Ron and Hermione made their way to their carriage where Dudley already was as he had already said his farewell.

Meanwhile, after their brief silence on meeting each other, Harry and Cho were chatting like long-lost friends. They had many similarities other than Quidditch and had fun teasing and just talking to each other. In the midst of their friendly banter, the Weasleys came up to say goodbye to Harry. They talked for a while before Mrs Weasley gave Harry a hug and they were off.

Turning back to Cho, Harry said, "I think the train's leaving soon. We had better get back to our seats. Catch up more with you later."

"But since you're also a prefect, won't you be sitting in the prefects carriage too?" Cho asked.

"Nah, I'll be sitting behind with my friends where I can have fun, break some school rules and still get away with it. I'll probably pop by later though." Harry said with a naughty grin on his face.

"Oh, grow up Potter. Act like a prefect." Cho tried to fight back an answering grin.

"Yes, mum." Harry said before they both burst out laughing.

After a few moments to catch their breath, Cho teased, "You are impossible. I really wonder how you got to be a prefect."

"To tell you the truth, I don't know either. I think only Fred and George have broken more school rules than me." Harry joked back though Cho could see that there was a grain of truth behind his words.

Suddenly solemn, Cho said, "Don't beat yourself over it. If you're chosen, it means that you deserve it and from my point of view, you really do."

"I won't think too much over it if you won't too." Harry said, knowing what Cho was thinking.

"It's a deal," Cho replied, smiling once again.

Just then, the last call for students to get to their seats sounded. They both nodded to each other in mutual understanding and dashed off in the direction of their carriages. In fact, they only made it back just in time before the train started rolling out of the station.

"You nearly missed the train pal. Was too engrossed to even notice the time huh?" Ron teased.

Just then Malfoy's voice rang across, as he entered their carriage with Crabbe and Goyle, "Potter nearly missed the train! If only he actually missed it."

Harry who was still in a happy daze after his conversation with Cho barely listened to Ron but he immediately perked up at the sound of Malfoy's voice.

"Get lost Malfoy. You're not welcome here." Harry practically yelled.

"I can go wherever I want. You don't own the train, do you?" Malfoy smirked.

"Neither do you," Harry replied in a similar fashion.

"Did I stop you from entering my carriage?" mocked Malfoy.

"Who wants to even enter your carriage?" an enraged Harry said.

Soon, a crowd was surrounding them, watching them throw insults at each other. They were on the verge of hexing each other when Angelina and Cho who were patrolling the train, turned up.

"Break it up, both of you. Act like the prefects you are." Angelina angrily said.

Seeing that he had no choice, Malfoy stalked out of the carriage with his two cronies. Looking back for a second, he saw Hermione there also looking angry and he felt ashamed with himself. "It's only that mudblood. What's wrong with you?" Malfoy thought to himself.

Back in the carriage, Angelina said, "Don't make me take points from my own house."

"Sorry, it won't happen again. It's just that he pushed me to it." Harry tried to explain.

"I'll let it go this once but do be more responsible and act like a prefect." The head girl allowed herself a grin before she left.

"Guess you were right about having fun, Potter-boy. And it's so unfair, you did not call her mum." Harry heard a voice whispering in his ear.

Knowing the bearer of that voice anywhere he hears it, Harry turned to see Cho smiling at him before she walked off after Angelina. He was confused for a while by her statement but then he recalled their earlier conversation and started chuckling. He saw a few people looking at him weirdly so he said to no one in particular that it was a private joke.

Just then Ron came up to him and complained, "I wanted to bash Malfoy up but Hermione held me back."

"We're prefects and should act like one Ron. And that means no fighting." Hermione reasoned.

"It's funny that so many people are saying the same thing today," Harry mused.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Oh, it's nothing." Harry replied.

In the end, Harry and Ron spent the best of the next hour telling Dudley all about Hogwarts. Hermione and Ginny were rather silent but nobody noticed so they just kept to their own thoughts.

******************************

At one o'clock, the lunch trolley arrived at their door. Harry went out with Dudley and they bought a huge load of food between them. Dudley had never seen those stuff before except for some chocolate frogs Harry had with him during the holidays and bought a little of everything to try. Hermione and Ginny also snapped out of their thoughts and they all had a truly enjoyable lunch. Even Fred and George, and their friend, Lee Jordan, came to join them.

******************************

After some peaceful chattering, Ron happened to look out of the window and saw many black specks in the sky. He noted them out to Harry who immediately recognized them as death eaters.

Taking charge, Harry commanded, "Ron and Hermione, go down the train and tell all the prefects you see to go to the prefects carriage. While doing so, keep a watch-out at the sky. I'll be going straight to the prefects' carriage. Hurry let's go now."


	4. Death Eaters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: Alright, here's the continuation, but I do love cliffhangers. =)

Death Eaters

Harry rushed down the train and burst into the prefects' carriage. Cho saw him coming and her heart pounded as she saw the tall, lean and lithe body in motion. She had enjoyed corresponding with him over the holidays and had been eager to see him. He was the one who understood her most after Cedric's demise. It was not only because he saw the whole incident himself but he could connect with her thoughts and feelings. She wanted to be able to talk to him in person after all those letters but when she saw him just now, he just took her breath away. She couldn't believe how he had matured over the summer. She was still grieving over Cedric but she could not stop herself from admiring his physique. And he was not only beautiful outside but inside too. How was she to resist him this year? She knew that he liked her and she had even had a crush on him during her fourth year after they played their first Quidditch match together. She had even hoped to go to the Yule Ball with him before Cedric asked her. "Just remember Cedric," Cho chanted to herself as she smiled up to Harry Potter who had just entered.

Seeing Cho's smile, he felt sad to know that when she heard his news, the smile would be wiped away, but he had no choice. He took in her breath-taking appearance and managed to get a hold on himself to say to all the prefects in the carriage, "Death eaters approaching."

Angelina and Roger immediately pounced on him and simultaneously said, "What?"

Other prefects were also shooting glances at him.

"Look out of the window. Those black specks on broomsticks are they." Harry continued and saw their faces pale as all the prefects looked out.

Just then, the rest of the prefects who were not in the carriage came in with Ron and Hermione. Even Malfoy was amongst them.

"So what do we do now? We're going to be attacked." Angelina said.

"I think the only way we can stop them from attacking the train is to take them on in the air." Harry stated.

"But not all the prefects know how to fly and there're more death eaters than us prefects." Roger replied.

"Then I think we should get all those fifth years and above who know how to fly to join us in this battle. Those prefects who don't know how to fly can just defend the train." Harry said.

"Yeah, I think that's the best we could do." Angelina replied as other prefects nodded their heads.

Some of the prefects went to gather those who would fly out with them to battle while the others discussed their plans and prepared their broomsticks.

"Hey Malfoy, are you on our side or theirs?" Harry suddenly remarked. The rest of the prefects also turned to look at him.

"Believe it or not, I'm against the Dark Lord. My father tried to initiate me during the holidays but I realized that I didn't want to." Malfoy replied.

"But didn't your father force you?" Harry said amazed at this new fact.

"We're at odds at the moment and he's threatening to disown me." Malfoy said.

Just then, all the potential flyers came in.

"Harry, since you've fought with You-Know-Who before, why don't you take charge?" Angelina commented.

"Yeah, you should," Roger seconded the motion while the rest of the prefects also agreed.

"Alright, we're going to try to take out most of the death eaters by the element of surprise. Use simple curses against them. They're trained to counter mainly the more advanced curses. Oh, and one of those remaining, send an owl to Hogwarts to let them know of the situation." Harry commanded.

All those hearing him nodded their heads in ascent.

"Some of those remaining, please patrol the train and check on the first years. Those flying, let's get our broomsticks and go." Harry stated.

Harry pulled out his Laser and everyone stared.

"You guys can look at my broom later. Now let's mount and leave okay." Harry snapped.

They all snapped out of it and flew off after Harry. Most of them were Quidditch players. Harry really shot out ahead of all of them and feeling the breeze in his hair, he really found that this broomstick is much faster than the Firebolt. Controlling it was easy and if it were not a battle, he would really love this experience of flying it.

As expected, many death eaters were shocked to see students in the air too and the students managed to take out most of the death eaters. The more experienced ones were left and most tried to flee. Finally, only one was in sight.

Harry increased his voice volume and said, "Angelina, Roger, Katie, Alicia, remain. The rest of you can return back to the train."

He lowered his volume and rapidly said, "You are all chasers and should know the move where two chasers close in on an opposing chaser and the third flies headlong towards him. Well, that's what we're going to do. You guys close in from all four directions and I'll chase him."

They all nodded and he continued, "Then, lets go."

They managed to hold the death eater from going in either direction but he just kept going up and up. In the end, Harry gave his broom a spurt of speed and also, him being on a much faster broom, managed to hold on to the death eater while one of the four stunned him.

They all flew back to the train with the death eater in tow. Entering the carriage, they were all welcomed by cheers all around.

"Well, you should thank Harry. It's his quick thinking that saved us." Angelina said.

"But you guys did well too," Harry protested.

Before either could continue, Malfoy said in a shaky voice, "I know this death eater. It's my father."

"I think we shouldn't do anything to him. Just bring him to school and pass him over to Professor Dumbledore." Harry said.

"Alright then. Is everything on the train fine?" Roger asked.

"Nothing happened here. You took them all out in the air." Hermione replied.

"I guess we better return to our carriages then. We're reaching school soon." Harry said.

But before he could leave, Malfoy motioned to him, "Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Surprised to be called by his first name, Harry ignored Ron and Hermione's warning look and said, "Sure."

"We'll see you in the carriage later, right?" Ron asked.

"Yeah." Harry replied.

As the rest all disappeared to their seats, Harry and Draco walked along the aisle, talking. (A/N: Notice that I started using Draco instead of Malfoy. Well, there's always a reason for that.)

"I just wanted to say that I'm really fighting for the good and I'm not going to follow in my father's footsteps." Draco started.

"Uh, why are you telling me all this." Harry said.

"I think we could start afresh and be friends. We are on the same side and should fight together." Draco replied.

"But you're still with Crabbe and Goyle." Harry answered.

"They refused to leave me alone and they still think that I'm siding with the Dark Lord." Draco explained.

"But you're in Slytherin and I'm in Gryffindor." Harry tried again.

"We can start inter-house relations." Draco grinned.

Harry noticed that without the sneer, Draco could actually be quite nice.

"Alright. We can try it." Harry grinned in reply.

"Well, we could start by calling in each other by our first names, right?" Draco said.

"Sure, Draco." Harry said, saying the name for the first time.

"Think we are arriving in a few minutes. See you in school Harry." Draco replied.

They both started to walk in the direction of their own carriage.

******************************

Arriving in his carriage, Harry could still see Ron and Hermione recounting the incident to Dudley who was amazed that Harry was such a hero. Harry quickly changed into his robes and began telling them of his conversation with Draco.

"I think we can trust him. He's really sincere in joining our side." Harry concluded his tale.

"He could be a spy for You-Know-Who," Ron said with disbelief.

"I think not but I could ask Professor Dumbledore to make sure." Harry said.


	5. Back At Hogwarts

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: I'll try to have fewer cliffhangers, but then, this is going to be a long story cause I'll be covering the whole of the fifth year, from start to end.

Back At Hogwarts

On entering the castle, all the students immediately made their way to the Great Hall and then to their respective house tables. Harry and his fellow Gryffindors were of course at their Gryffindor table where their resident ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, greeted them. While waiting for the sorting to take place, Harry looked ahead to the staff table to see who would be their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. To his surprise, he saw Professor Lupin amongst the teachers. He also noticed that Professor Dumbledore was not at the table.

"Do you think Lupin would be teaching us again this year?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.

"Well, he had been the best so far and there doesn't seem to be any other possibilities except perhaps Snape." Ron replied shuddering.

"Wonder where's Dumbledore. He's usually sitting at the head of the table by the time we enter." Hermione who had also been scanning at the staff table voiced Harry's thoughts aloud.

But before they could discuss further, Professor McGonagall emerged, leading a long line of first years up to the top of the hall.

"There're more first years than usual," Harry muttered.

"Parents probably think that Hogwarts is the safest place now, with You-Know-Who's return. Well, at least for those who believe," Ron replied.

Professor McGonagall now placed a three-legged stool on the ground before the first-years, and, on top of it, an extremely old, dirty, patched wizard's hat. The first years stared at it. So did everybody else. But before it broke into song, Professor McGonagall spoke.

"Would Mr Potter please go to see Professor Dumbledore in his office?" Professor McGonagall announced.

Harry was shocked at the announcement. He expected that Professor Dumbledore wanted to ask about the train's incident. He muttered to Ron and Hermione that he would tell them about his conversation with Dumbledore later and left his seat with everyone in the hall staring at him. As he made his way to Dumbledore's office, he could faintly hear the sorting taking place.

Reaching the familiar gargoyle, Harry realized that he did not know the password to Dumbledore's office. Remembering last year's password, he tried tentatively, "Cockroach Cluster" but the door did not open.

"Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Lemon Drops…" Harry tried but to no avail.

When he was about to give up, he remembered Honeydukes and tried "Sugar Quill" and this time the gargoyle opened for him to enter.

"Professor, you wanted to see me," Harry asked.

"Yes, Harry. There are some important matters that we need to discuss." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Did you want to know about the train incident?" Harry asked.

"Oh, Angelina and Roger had already reported it when they came to deposit Lucius Malfoy, and we received your owl. I must admit that you did a good job." Professor Dumbledore said with that familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"Then what did you call me for?" Harry was confused.

"Voldemort is gaining power quickly and you are the only one who can defeat him." Professor Dumbledore said gravely.

"But how? I'm only a 15-year-old boy. Lots of wizards are more powerful than me." Harry said.

"You are the most powerful wizard there is. You just have not realized your potential yet." Professor Dumbledore remarked.

"Then…" Harry tried to understand.

"Lord Voldemort wants to kill you because you are the only wizard alive who can pose a threat to him. Without the stone, you are already powerful enough to harm him and he don't want you to ever find the stone which would only increase your powers." Professor Dumbledore continued.

"What stone?" Harry asked.

"Oh you mean that you don't know." Professor Dumbledore said. As Harry nodded his head, the Professor continued, "It is the stone of Twilight Dawn. It contains powerful magic and has descended from the first wizard to walk on this earth, Merlin. It has been passed down over the generations, with each holder of the stone able to choose the stone's heir. And only that designated heir is able to use the stone. Each holder of the stone is able to transmit a part of their own magic into it, making the stone the most magical object ever created. The stone will only be destroyed if it's owner dies and there is no heir. This is mainly why Voldemort wants to kill you."

"Does this mean I'm Merlin's heir? And where is the stone?" Harry wondered incredulously.

"No, you are not Merlin's heir. When a wizard has no living son to pass it to, he can bestow it on anyone he thinks deserves the stone. This heir can only be a male so even if the wizard has a daughter, the stone would not go to her. And to answer your other question, the stone disappeared when your parents died." Professor Dumbledore further explained.

"If I did not have the power of the stone, how was I able to survive Voldemort all these times?" Harry questioned.

"That is another reason why you are so sought after by Voldemort. You are the heir of Godric Gryffindor and his powers are in you. Remember when you were younger, you were able to do magic without a wand. If you train yourself now, you would be able to do that and many other kinds of magic too." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"But…" Harry still had many more things to ask.

"I think we should go back to the hall now. All those information are enough to boggle your mind. The sorting should be over and the school's waiting for us to start the feast." Professor Dumbledore added.

******************************

They both walked together back to the hall. As they were walking, Harry remembered to ask, "Professor, is Draco Malfoy on the same side as us?"

"If you mean if he is against Voldemort, then yes. We had already administered Veritaserum to Lucius Malfoy and learnt many things from him. We'll let the Ministry deal with him." Professor Dumbledore said.

As they entered the hall together, the school was already waiting for them.

******************************

Harry made his way back to his seat where Ron and Hermione bombarded him with questions. He gave them the gist of what Dumbledore had said except the fact that he was Gryffindor's heir and that he was the most powerful wizard alive as he did not want Ron to be jealous at his fame.

Meanwhile, food started appearing on the table and all the students started to tuck in. At the end of the meal, Professor Dumbledore stood up again to give his usual announcements and to update the students on Voldemort's return. Then they all sang the school song before they were all dismissed. The prefects led the way to their respective houses common rooms and showed the first years their dormitories.

"Hippogriff," Angelina said to the portrait of the fat lady and it swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall.

As they entered the common room, Angelina ordered Ron and Harry to show the first-year boys and also Dudley to their dormitories while she and Hermione brought the girls to theirs. After some time, they all met back in the common room and they all made their way to the prefects' room together.

******************************

Entering the prefects' room, they noticed that they were the last to arrive. They were surprised to see both Professor 

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall there too. As they took their seats, Professor Dumbledore started to talk.

"As you all know Voldemort has returned," Professor Dumbledore paused there as everyone other than Harry flinched at the name, before continuing, "There's a high possibility that Hogwarts will be one of the first places he attack so I want all of you prefects to be on your guard. If required, there might also be need for some of you to patrol the hallways at night later in the year. We are in perilous times and when the professors are not around, you all, as prefects, will be in charge. You have all done well on the train today and I hope that you all can keep that up."

With that he swept out of the room.

Professor McGonagall said, "See me tomorrow Mr Potter," before she followed Professor Dumbledore out.

Harry was wondering why McGonagall might want to see him and noticed some curious stares from other prefects as well when Roger called the meeting to order. They all discussed how best to deal with breaking of rules and all the trick stairways and hidden corners about the school. After about an hour, everything was more or less settled, and the meeting ended with everyone feeling tired after a long day.

******************************

As they all left the room, Harry was about to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room with his fellow Gryffindors when Cho called him. Ron gave him an encouraging grin and Hermione a glare that surprised him before they made their way back without him.

"So, what's up?" Harry asked Cho.

"Nothing really. Just wanted to talk to you." Cho said.

"Why don't I walk you back to your common room and we can talk along the way instead of standing here rather stupidly?" Harry grinned.

"Sure," Cho replied with a smile as they walked together.

"So what did you want to talk about," Harry asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.

"Nothing in particular. I just thought that after the amount of communication during the holidays…I meant that…" Cho stuttered.

"Thought we were now friends, didn't you?" Harry gave a smile.

"We were friends before. It's just now…" Cho earnestly tried to explain.

"You mean that we are more than friends." Harry teased.

"Oh, not that." Cho blushed before continuing, "We understand each other better now and are closer I guess."

"You only guess," Harry said incredulously, though with a mischievous grin still playing on his lips.

"Can't you be serious, Potter?" Cho smiled in return.

"I am being serious. If you are only guessing, it means that you're not sure." Harry was still grinning.

"How am I to be certain what you're thinking?" Cho cried out in frustration

"Calm down." Harry said as they approached the entrance to the Ravenclaws' common room before continuing with a naughty grin, "You can ask to be sure."

Cho grinned in return and took a deep breath before asking, "Want to hang out together at times?"

"Sure," Harry replied.

"You aren't still joking, are you?" Cho searched his face for an answer.

"I've never been so sure in my life." Harry solemnly replied.

"Alright. Anyway, I better go in. Good night." Cho said.

"G'night," Harry replied before turning to leave.

Cho watched him until he was out of sight before entering her common room. She wondered what was happening to her. Cedric had just died and she was thinking of someone else. She had better get a hold on herself or else… But then she couldn't help thinking about Harry. She sensed his presence when he was near and everything else but him flies from her mind. He was practically her first crush and he liked her. She smiled at that thought. "No, stop it Cho. You and Harry are just friends. Remember, just friends." Cho tried to convince herself. Only remembering Cedric stopped her from being with Harry. But then again, she was about to break up with Cedric after the third task as she felt that their relationship was going nowhere. He liked her but she wasn't that psyched about him even though she was elated at first to be liked by one of the most sought after guys in the whole school. In the end, she didn't even have a chance to break up with him and she felt guilty about leading him on. That was the only thing she didn't tell Harry about during their letters to each other.

Meanwhile, Harry was also thinking of Cho as he sat in the Gryffindor common room, watching Ron teaching Dudley wizard chess. He was amazed at how easily Dudley fitted into the wizarding world. He then thought of Cho, her smile, her voice, even her uncertainty at their friendship. He was happy to be friends with her though he wanted much more. He knew that she still thought of Cedric and he just wanted to draw her close and comfort her. Just thinking about her sent a sense of warmth through him. He smiled as he remembered how he felt when he was around her. All other thoughts would flee from his mind immediately. In his third year when she first caught his eye, he thought that he only had a crush on her and that would disappear eventually but not seeing her during the holidays before the fourth year only made his feelings for her stronger. Seeing her with Cedric last year practically ripped his heart apart and that was when he realized that she was the only girl for him. No one else could ever take her place in his heart. When he saw her tears after Cedric's death, all he could think was his guilt at not saving Cedric. He would rather see her happy and with Cedric than heartbroken without him. He even surprised himself at the length he was willing to go for her. He knew that he would only be happy if she was too. Receiving a letter from her the past holidays was probably the happiest part of his life. Though now they were only friends, all he could think was, "At least we're friends." He loved her so much that he was like a dog picking up whatever scraps his master could give him.

Unknown to Harry, while he was thinking, there were two Gryffindors who were watching him, noticing his every move. One wanted to ask about his relationship with Cho but was afraid to hear the answer. The other was just happy to adore him from afar. They were both secretly in love with him but he was in love with someone else, and they were afraid of failing to secure his love and even losing his friendship, should they confess it to him.


	6. Lessons…and…Quidditch Tryouts

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: I'm flattered by your comments but I'd love it if more of you r/r.

Lessons…and…Quidditch Tryouts

With the sun streaking through the windows, Harry felt somebody prodding him awake. He tried to ignore it but that person just wouldn't stop. Finally, he opened his eyes to the face of an excited Dudley. He rolled over to shade himself from the bright sunlight but Dudley kept disturbing him. Dudley was really nervous yet happy to start his first day at school. He had been awake for ages and now wanted both Harry and Ron to bask together with him in his newfound happiness. He just kept bugging Harry and Ron until they finally left their beds.

Reaching the Grand Hall, the saw quite a number of students already up and awake. They took their places at the Gryffindor table just as the horde of owls came soaring in. Harry looked up instinctively but there was no sign of Hedwig. He had thought that Sirius might send him a letter but it's alright if there wasn't any letter. He was in the middle of his breakfast when Professor Dumbledore came in with a rather beautiful girl beside him. Everyone in the hall immediately stared at the duo while waiting for Professor Dumbledore to explain her presence.

"I wonder who that girl is," Harry muttered.

"Well, she sure is beautiful," said Ron dreamily.

"Yeah…simply divine." Dudley added sarcastically.

"Quit it you two. She seems to be rather old for a new student though." Hermione continued.

"Sheesh…Dumbledore is starting to speak." Harry said to them.

"I would like to present to you Jessica Russell. She is a new student who had only arrived this morning and will be in the fifth-year. And she was sorted to Gryffindor. She was initially from Drumstrang but transferred here due to some personal reasons." Professor Dumbledore announced.

At the word Drumstrang, some Gryffindors were shocked as they thought that students from Drumstrang were usually into the Dark Arts.

"She's probably You-Know-Who's spy. Be careful Harry." Ron commented.

"I can't believe you Ron. First you thought that she was beautiful and now you hear that she's from Drumstrang, you change your tone completely." Hermione was miffed.

"Well, since she's sorted to Gryffindor, shouldn't we give her a chance?" Harry asked.

"It is both of you that is unbelievable. She could be dangerous." Ron argued.

"We'll just give her a chance okay," Harry replied.

"Fine, but if she's a You-Know-Who supported, don't come crying." Ron said grudgingly.

Just then, the girl walked up to the Gryffindor table. Harry made way for her to seat and she gave him a grateful smile.

"Hi," she said.

"You're Jessica right? Well, I'm Harry, this is Ron on my right, Hermione is sitting beside him and that is my cousin Dudley." Harry introduced himself.

"You can call me Jess." She replied.

The rest also introduced themselves as the Gryffindors got over their earlier shock. They all found Jess to be fun loving and a mischief-maker, which made Fred and George happy. Soon, they were all chatting like long-lost friends, except for perhaps Ron, who remained mostly silent.

Meanwhile, Harry remembered that Professor McGonagall wanted to see him and left to find her. He slowly made his way to her office.

"I was expecting you." Professor McGonagall said as Harry entered.

"Uh… What did you want to talk to me about? It isn't anything bad, is it? Harry asked.

"Nothing bad. It's just some information that you should know." Professor McGonagall even smiled at him.

"Okay," Harry replied rather dubiously.

"Yesterday, Professor Dumbledore spoke to you of your powers right?" said Professor McGonagall. At Harry's nod of his head, she continued, "We decided that training you in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration was more important so you'll tackle them first. We know that you have your OWLs this year but You-Know-Who's return is much more important."

"I understand the need to study Defense Against the Dark Arts but why Transfiguration too?" Harry asked.

"Well, it would give you an advantage to be Animagi of which I'm going to guide you in." Professor McGonagall replied.

"Wouldn't that take years?" Harry questioned.

"With someone to guide you and your father also being an Animagi can even make it that the transformation will only take three months." Professor McGonagall smiled.

"So when do we start the lessons?" Harry was now excited.

"It will take place every night that you don't have prefect duties or Quidditch practice." Professor McGonagall replied.

"Harry, defeating Voldemort is the most important thing now and only you can do it." Professor McGonagall consoled when she saw his crestfallen face.

"Yeah. Well, I think I better get to class now," Harry started to say before he continued, "But I don't have my schedule yet."

"I was going to pass it to you. It includes your night schedule. If you are unable to attend class on a certain day, let the teacher in charge know." Professor McGonagall said as she passed him the schedule.

Harry scanned his schedule and realized that he did not have Divination this year. Instead he had more free time. He looked questioningly at Professor McGonagall who answered, "We think that with all the night classes, you need some rest during the day and Divination wasn't that useful anyway. Oh and before I forget, Quidditch tryouts for Gryffindor would be two weekends from now."

Harry knew Professor McGonagall's opinion of Divination and decided to leave. "Well, I better go to my class before I'm late." Harry glanced at his schedule and saw that the first period was Potions with Slytherins. If he did not reach on time, Snape was definitely going to take points from him.

"Be careful this year alright, Mr Potter." Professor McGonagall said.

Harry nodded his head and made his exit.

******************************

Harry entered Potions just before Snape and was greeted by the sight of Draco mocking Jess and Dudley and Ron about to fight him.

"Harry, help me tackle them," Ron yelled across.

Just then, Draco caught Harry's eye and signaled that he was only pretending for the sake of deceiving the other Slytherins. Harry tried to stop Ron from doing anything severe but Snape entered just in time. He immediately took twenty points from Gryffindor for provoking a student. Ron was about retort but Harry stopped him just in time. The rest of Potions was just as horrible as ever with Snape siding the Slytherins as usual. Jess was good at Potions but Snape thought otherwise and Dudley was almost as bad as Neville.

******************************

During Potions, Draco signaled to Harry that he wanted to talk to him after class.

"What did you want to say?" Harry asked after he asked Ron and Hermione to go ahead first.

"Sorry for making Gryffindor lose twenty points." Draco apologized.

"Wow, a Malfoy apologizing," remarked Harry good-naturedly.

Draco grinned before replying, "I shouldn't have mocked you Gryffindors but then if I did not, the Slytherins would be suspicious."

"What did you say to cause Ron to be so angry?" Harry asked.

"I just said Dudley was a mudblood like Hermione and Jess should have been in Slytherin since she's well-versed in the Dark Arts." Draco even looked embarrassed.

"That's harsh but I'll try to convince them that you didn't mean it. Anyway, I thought you wanted to build inter-house relations." Harry grinned.

"Well, it'd be so stark if I changed suddenly." Draco replied.

"Oh shoot, I've got Defense in five minutes. See you later." Harry said before rushing off.

"Well, Lupin wouldn't take points from you." Draco shouted to Harry before leaving himself.

As he walked, he kept seeing Hermione's face in his mind. The fury on her face when he said mudblood to her earlier was engraved in his mind. He can't deny that he likes her and even shocks himself at his admission. Smiling to himself, he made his way to the Transfiguration classroom, thinking of how best to win her heart.

******************************

Harry dashed to the Defense classroom and was shocked to see a black dog with Professor Lupin. He made his way to his seat after apologizing for being late. Looking at his friends, he said that he'd tell them later where he'd been earlier. He thoroughly enjoyed the class during which Professor Lupin taught some more advanced hexes that could be used against many curses. Though Harry had learnt most of them last year while preparing for the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, he still enjoyed doing them all over again.

******************************

After that, they all went back to the Gryffindor common room where Harry explained Draco's earlier insults and they discussed Sirius' presence. Though Ron was still pretty angry, he was willing to believe Draco until proven wrong.

"What did McGonagall want to see you about this morning?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, just Quidditch and some extra classes as I had to be prepared for Voldemort." Harry half-lied. He did not want them all to be worried.

******************************

That night in the middle dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. Everybody expected it to be something bad as Professor Dumbledore seldom makes announcements in the middle of a meal and quietened down.

"I have a piece of good news to share. The school has decided to hold two balls in the coming year. One will be a mid-autumn ball while the other will be held to celebrate Valentine's Day." Professor Dumbledore started saying.

But before he could continue, all the students were already cheering loudly. Harry scanned the Ravenclaws' table to see how Cho was taking it. He saw a sad look on her face and jealously thought that she was thinking of Cedric.

"Another thing is that the Quidditch tournament will recommence this year. The champion team will be facing a team from America that has agreed to make a stop at Hogwarts during their Britain tour." Professor Dumbledore continued after the cheering had quietened.

"Wow… I'd love to play against a professional team. Think of the experience I'd get." Harry said dreamily, echoing the thoughts of other Quidditch players.

"Harry, do you think I'd be able to make the team this year now that Wood has left," Ron asked seriously.

"Sure…I think you'll be able to do it." Harry said confidently.

"Hey, I play Quidditch too." Jess cut in.

"What position do you play? We need a keeper." Harry eagerly asked.

"I'm mainly a chaser but I can be a keeper as well, though not as good." Jess replied.

"Well, you can try next year or if we need a reserve this year. You can also try for the keeper's position, though you have to fight with Ron for it." Harry grinned mischievously.

"Harry, aren't you supposed to teach me how to fly?" Dudley asked.

"Yeah, but now that I've lessons at night too, it'd be more difficult. You can come during Quidditch practice where I can help you at times or you can ask someone else to teach you." Harry said apologetically.

"Well, I don't mind if both you and someone else teach me. I want to learn as fast as possible." Dudley said with a grin.

******************************

The days passed quickly and Quidditch tryouts approached. Ron and Jess were still at odds but they had a talk one day and Jess assured him that she was not a spy of Voldemort nor was she going to harm anyone in anyway. (A/N: Then why was she here? You'll find out soon.)

Harry visited Sirius who has been put up in one of those long forgotten rooms frequently. He was happy to know that his godfather was here with him at Hogwarts and felt safer. After a while, he also told Jess about Sirius as she had become very close to their group of friends and proved to be trustworthy.

Cho and Harry also spent more time together, studying in the library or just having a chat along the corridors. Harry was still working up the courage to ask her to the ball but he was afraid of being rejected again. Harry also conversed more with Draco and they are slowly showing the school that they are not as opposed to each other as before. Some Slytherins now ignore Draco as they think that he's switched to the good side while the others think he's just helping Voldemort spy on Harry, so in other words, Harry became his best friend. He shared his misery over his family with Harry while Harry shared his also unhappy childhood and through that, they realized how they had misunderstood each other.

Hermione now has a new challenger for best pupil in Jess. Jess is not a bookworm like Hermione but grasps each subject very fast. Jess is also a joker and often plans new jokes and tricks with Fred and George. Draco has still not expressed how he felt for Hermione though Harry could guess his feelings by seeing how he looks at her.

Dudley is getting along fine. He has caught up quickly even though he missed four years of training and is nearly on par with the rest of the fifth years. Harry had only had time to teach him the basics of flying once but he has already shown that he can be quite good at it if he practices frequently. He was eager to fly well and some other Gryffindors had also been giving him some pointers on flying.

Harry has been pretty tired with classes around the clock and other duties. So far, there had been no danger so there was no need for night patrol and he could at least get a few hours rest each night. His friends have seen him rather stressed up with his training to face Voldemort but knew better than to ask him what was actually going on. Harry found training for Animagi was not easy and moreover the advance Defense of the Dark Arts classes took their toll on him. With Snape, Lupin, Sirius and Dumbledore all training him for Defense, he felt that he couldn't let them down (except Snape) and complied with all they asked.

******************************

On the morning of the Quidditch tryouts, all the Gryffindors woke up in anticipation of who would be their new captain and keeper. Those who were taking part in the tryouts were excited and hopeful of garnering a spot on the team. Ron even woke up his whole dormitory in excitement.

The Gryffindor team members made it to the Quidditch pitch an hour before the rest to discuss how to hold the tryouts and who should be the captain.

"Harry, what happened to your Firebolt?" Alicia asked as he came in carrying his Laser.

"It's still working. Think I'll use it as a spare now that I've got a new broom." Harry grinned in reply.

"Lucky you," Fred said as he walked in together with Angelina.

Slowly, the rest of the team appeared and they started discussing.

"So how are we holding the tryouts? Put them in the keepers position as you chasers try to score against him or her, or do we have a mock game?" Harry asked.

"Why don't we chasers try to score against them first and then we take the best two and have a mock game?" Angelina commented.

"Good idea," Fred said.

"Of course you have to say it's a good idea. Your girlfriend suggested it." George joked before continuing, "Though seriously, I think we should do that too."

"So all agreed?" Katie asked.

"Yes," they all said in accord.

"By the way, now that Wood has left, who's going to be our captain?" Harry asked.

They all looked at him as if they had already voted and he was it.

"But you guys are more experienced. Like Angelina for example, she can devise tactics better than me." Harry protested.

"Thanks but no thanks. I already have my duties as Head Girl. Anyway, you have never failed to lose a match for us except that one which was negligible." Angelina replied.

"And we'll all be leaving after this year. So you can take the mantle of captain now and gain some experience." Alicia added.

"But then…" Harry started to say.

"No more buts. We all say you're captain so you are." Katie interjected.

"Yeah…Potter is captain." Fred and George chimed.

"I'll be captain but you guys got to help me out. I'm pretty clueless about what the captain does." Harry finally agreed while the others rolled their eyes at him.

"Well, that's settled. I think the pupils trying out are already there. We better get going." Katie said.

******************************

They all emerged from the dressing room to see a small crowd gathered on the pitch. Harry saw Ron and Jess and gave them thumbs-up. He was about to walk over to wish them luck when he saw the other team members looking at him expectantly.

"What?" Harry asked.

"You're supposed to give instructions and such." Angelina prodded.

"But I don't know what to say," Harry replied.

"Just tell them what to do," Angelina answered.

"Alright, I'll try." Harry mumbled.

"Everyone listen. We're holding tryouts for the keeper's position today. First, we want you all to take turns at facing our chasers who will try to put the Quaffle past you. The two best performers will proceed to a mock game from which we will choose the best keeper. The better one will obviously be on the Gryffindor team while the other will be our reserve." Harry announced.

"That wasn't bad for a first attempt," Alicia gave him a winning grin.

"Yeah…but I was trembling inside," Harry replied.

"You did fine. Now let's put them into order and then let the tryouts begin." Katie said.

After a while, you could see the difference between the better ones and those who did not really make an effort. By the end, Ron and Jess performed the best. Though Jess looked more comfortable as a chaser, she was a hell of a keeper too and Ron, well, no Quaffle got past him and he performed outstanding dives one after another.

It was not easy to choose between the two as they both put up impeccable performances in the mock game. The chasers all found it difficult to score against them. Jess was more agile and flew exceptionally well, keeping out most of the shots easily, and as she also played chaser, she could guess most of the opposing chasers moves. Ron performed spectacularly well; only letting in one Quaffle and that was after some excellent play by the chasers. Finally, they had to resort to a vote to choose who the new keeper was. Unbelievably, the vote was also a tie. After some debate, they finally resulted in an outcome. Emerging from the dressing room, the Gryffindor team was rushed at by the two keeper hopefuls who were eager to see if they had qualified for the team. (A/N: I was going to stop here but I decided to be kind for once and not leave a cliffhanger.)

"You all took so long. So who's it going to be?" Hermione who was also there asked.

Harry joked, "Actually we found it so difficult to choose between you two that we're going to discuss more and let you guys know later."

"Harry!" Jess and Ron both yelled at him while the rest of the Gryffindor team just sat around grinning.

"Alright. After much consideration, we decided to choose Ron as we felt that Jess would always be more comfortable in the chaser position. And not to worry Jess, you might have a chance this season if Ron or one of the chasers gets injured." Harry teased.

"Being captain does not give you the prerogative to curse your team members," Katie teased in return.

"Harry's captain?" Ron inquired.

"He was the one who gave all the announcements and took charge of the tryouts. Who else could it be?" George said.

"Congrats Harry," Hermione and Jess said while Ron looked a little jealous, though he got over it quickly enough and even gave Harry a friendly punch.

******************************

The school heard the news and many congratulated Harry and Ron except all the Slytherins other than Draco. That night, Harry was with Cho in the library. She was studying while helping him with his Potions homework at the same time. They had spent plenty of time together over the past two weeks and had really become good friends, though Harry wished to be more than a friend to her. Tonight was the night he was going to ask her to the ball, he thought to himself. As usual, he walked her back to the Ravenclaw common room.

Before she could enter, he tried to gather his courage to ask, "Uh, Cho…"

Spinning around, she said, "Yes…"

Though she subconsciously already knew what he was going to ask, she was still taken aback when he asked with uncertainty plain in his tone, "Cho, would you…um…like to go to the ball with me?"

At his words, her heart pounded and her mind kept singing yes. She looked into his eyes and was mesmerized by the glowing hope in it…


	7. Mid-Autumn Ball

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: Left a cliffhanger but you didn't have to wait for long, did you? =) Anyway, these first few chapters are mainly romance. It's only about Christmas that the action actually kicks in. To Pumpkin Hatching, your guess is so darn close, maybe I got to change the pairings now…=) Well, some, if not most of your guesses on the upcoming romance is head on…But you got to wait until I complete to see who ends up with who…=)

Mid-Autumn Ball

Then the thought of Cedric occurred again and guilt washed over her. She couldn't do this to Cedric. Two Triwizard champions, one was alive, the other dead. One was her boyfriend, the other she wanted to be her boyfriend. She finally admitted that to herself. She would love to say yes but the memory of Cedric kept haunting her.

Sensing Cho's hesitancy, Harry was sad that she did not think of him as he thought of her, and he knew the reason. "She still loves Cedric and maybe even blames me for it though she had said I was not at fault in one of her letters to me during the holidays. She's just out of my league." Harry thought.

Feeling miserable, he tried to take back his words, "I meant we could go as friends, nothing else." He couldn't believe that the same girl had ripped his heart apart for two years in a row. "This has got to be a record," he thought.

His words drove a dagger into her heart. She couldn't believe how much his words affected her. She knew this was for the best but she thought that she had meant something to him. Had she read the signs wrongly? Maybe he just asked her because he felt guilty that Cedric's ex-girlfriend had no date. She could feel the tears coming and immediately said, "Sorry, I can't go with you," before entering her common room without a second glance.

Harry saw Cho's stricken look before she entered the common room. He wanted to chase after her but he was not allowed into another house's common room and anyway, she probably needed some time alone. He realized how much he had hurt her with his words and now he couldn't take them back. He should have just accepted her answer instead of adding that they go as friends. Now she probably thought that he did not actually want to ask her. He was an idiot. She would probably never forgive him for that. He had really gone over the line.

Cho was unable to sleep that night. She couldn't stop thinking of Harry's words. She had cried even more than she had cried after Cedric's death the past year before she forced herself to stop. She didn't realize just how much she wanted to go to the dance with Harry until he said those words that tore her heart apart. She knew she should leave Cedric's memory in peace and get on with her life but she could not help thinking that if she was not Cedric's girlfriend, he would not try to win the Cup for her and ultimately die. If she had recognized her love for Harry earlier, this would not have happened. All the 'If…' just kept her awake the whole night, tossing and turning until nearly before dawn, before she fell into a troubled sleep.

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Over the days leading up to the ball, Cho and Harry were practically strangers. He tried to talk to her but she treated him with open hostility and he could do nothing about it. He threw himself into his classes and Quidditch that would be starting the weekend after the first ball. He improved tremendously in his studies through extra studying and his night classes but he was miserable. He felt lonely without Cho's friendship and did not spend much time with his friends, preferring to go to the library or to his dorm to be alone. He kept his thoughts to himself and did not talk much unless there was something important. Though his close friends noticed that it probably had to do with Cho, they kept silent and left him after he snapped at their initial questions. Sirius and Lupin also noticed a difference in him but knew better to ask. He would tell them himself if he wanted to.

Cho was also in the same situation as Harry. She couldn't stop thinking about him even though she treated him with hostility. She felt worse than ever but she did not know what to do or say so that seemed the best route to go. Roger Davies had asked her to the ball. She did not want to accept at first but after much thinking, she decided that wallowing in her misery would not help and accepted without emotion.

Ron and Jessica were going to the ball together too. Ron had initially asked Hermione but she rejected him as there was only one person she wanted to go with. Harry was rather surprised to see Ron and Jess going together as he thought that they were mostly at odds, which they are, though in a more friendly way lately, and he thought that Ron liked Hermione. Dudley had not asked anyone though he got along pretty well with his fellow Gryffindors and was improving in both his classes and flying. He was taking all his classes with the fifth years now and looked to be a future Quidditch team member. Ginny was also hoping to go to the ball with Harry until Colin Creevey asked her. She decided that Harry was never going to ask so she accepted Colin's date.

******************************

The day of the ball arrived. By then, many - especially the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws - were aware of Harry and Cho's indifference towards each other. When they first started hanging out together, rumours of them together were spread but they just ignored them. Now that their attitude towards each other had changed, there were many who were curious over what had happened. Some had even ventured to ask him but many kept out of his way after he snapped at them. Most of the Gryffindors left him to think alone but Hermione was worried and sought him out in the library.

"Harry," Hermione said tentatively as she approached him.

"Oh…hi Hermione," Harry said after snapping out of a daze.

"What's wrong? You seem so out of it recently." Hermione said as slid into the seat across from his.

"Nothing. I just thought that since there are the OWLs this year, I had better study harder." Harry lied through his teeth.

"Stop lying Potter. I'm your best friend." Hermione argued.

"Softer, Madam Pince will chase us out if we make too much noise." Harry said.

"Only if you tell me what's wrong," Hermione replied.

"I…uh…blew my chance with Cho." Harry said.

"Ah, so we've guessed correctly. The problem lies with Cho." Hermione said.

"You guys have been talking about me?" Harry said indignantly.

"Er…we're your friends and are worried over your recent behaviour." Hermione retorted.

"I…"Harry stammered.

"So since we've both got no dates. Why don't we go together?" Hermione tried asking nonchalantly though a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

Not noticing, Harry replied, "Sure."

"So you never said what went wrong with Cho," Hermione commented after a while.

"Don't ask alright," Harry said.

"Okay, think I'll go now. See you at the common room at 7:30 alright?" Hermione inquired.

"Yeah, bye." Harry replied before losing himself into his thoughts again.

He thought of Cho again and replayed that whole incident over again in his head. He had been kicking himself since that day and missed Cho a lot. At least when they were friends, he could still be with her. Why did he have to go and spoil it all? Finally, he vowed to have a talk with her soon. He could not stand this torment any longer. He was already burdened with his extra classes and now this only added to it.

******************************

The rest of the day just passed in a daze and before Harry knew it, it was 7:30. He went down to the common room with Ron and Dudley and saw Hermione already waiting for him. She looked lovely but he did not even notice and remained silent until Ron prodded him.

"Uh, you look great." Harry said though he never really looked at her. But Hermione was too delirious to be going to the ball with him to notice.

"Thanks, you look great yourself." Hermione replied.

Just then Jess emerged and both Ron and Dudley gawked at her. She looked simply gorgeous. Dudley had no date for the night and decided to tag along with the two couples.

"Wow," was the only word Ron could utter.

Jess just laughed it off and they all made their way to the great hall where dinner was served before the actual dancing. Harry glanced about the hall when they arrived and saw Cho looking like a goddess. And then he saw that she was on Roger's arm and jealousy kicked in. Many thoughts flew in his mind and he even thought she just wanted the honour of accompanying the head boy when he saw that she didn't even look happy. In fact, she looked almost as miserable as he felt. That was surprising, after seeing her emotionless face for weeks.

Dinner was soon over and the dance began. Only Jess and Ron seemed to actually have fun. They seemed to have gotten over their differences and now had eyes only for each other. They just danced through the night, feeling delirious like they were actually a couple. (A/N: Do you think I'd be kind enough to leave them together?)

Harry did ask Hermione for a few dances but seemed not into it and only following the motions. Draco claimed Hermione for a dance and Harry was happy to finally have time alone to think. He looked around the room and couldn't find Cho. He found Roger dancing with someone he recognized to be from Hufflepuff and he almost felt like bashing him. "How could he leave someone like Cho for someone so inferior?" Harry thought angrily. Feeling worried, he left to look for her.

Draco was happy to dance with Hermione. He was jealous that Hermione had gone with Harry while he was stuck with Pansy who he didn't like at all. He noticed that Harry did not even realize his fortune of being with Hermione and ignored her most of the time and wanted to punch some sense into him. Soon, both he and Hermione saw Harry leaving and a sad look passed over her face. Draco then realized that Hermione was in love with Harry. While he tried to collect his thoughts, Hermione rushed out after Harry. Seeing that nothing else was going to go for him that night, Draco was devastated and decided to return to his dorm for an early night.

Hermione caught up with Harry on the way to the Ravenclaw common room where he was headed. "Harry," she called panting for breath. Hearing his name called, Harry spun round in time to catch Hermione as she came flying across.

"What are you doing here, Hermione? I thought you were dancing with Draco." Harry was confused. (A/N: He tried to set her up with Draco as he knew that Draco liked her.)

"I saw you leaving and…" Hermione tried to explain.

"And what?" Harry asked exasperated.

Hermione could not find any words to explain so she just leaned up to kiss him. He tried to gently push her away but she wouldn't give up. So he decided to just let her ease up and loosen her grip before he pushes her off. He soon dreamt that he was kissing Cho and even kissed her in return. After a while, he opened his eyes to smile at her when he realized that he had kissed Hermione and she was looking up at him starry-eyed, with a dreamy smile on her face. He was about to push her away when he noticed a lone figure standing not far off. "Darn…" he muttered. He immediately let go off Hermione and ran off after that fast retreating figure. (A/N: You guys should know who that figure is, so this isn't really a cliffhanger. Until next time…)


	8. The Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: I've just started looking through my first few chapters and realized some spelling/typo or technical errors. I guess I should have read through first before I submit it. =) Well, all the errors are rectified and if you see any, do let me know. R/R please.

The Aftermath

Ginny had enjoyed dancing with Colin but she was jealous that Harry and Hermione were together. She did not realize that her best friend was in love with the same guy as her until tonight. When she saw Harry dashing out of the hall and Hermione following him, she immediately ran after them impulsively, leaving Colin on the dance floor by himself. Everybody was surprised to see her suddenly break into a run and some even thought that Colin had offended her but she didn't care. By the time she caught up, she saw Harry and Hermione kissing. She was almost in tears when she saw another figure watching the couple. Then Harry looked up. She leaned back into the dark hallway to hide in the shadows but she need not do that as Harry had eyes only for one person and that was not Hermione. He immediately let go of Hermione and chased after the figure that had already disappeared.

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Cho was making her way back to the Grand Hall when she saw a couple kissing. She had gone wandering about the hallways after telling Roger to have fun by himself as she wasn't really into it. She had seen Harry with Hermione and just went into a state of frenzy. She knew that she couldn't keep sane if she was in the hall. She would just keep staring at them. After walking a while, her mind cleared and she started to think. She realized that she had already let go of Cedric long ago. She just wasn't ready to accept the fact that she could love again so quickly and even get over her guilt. Now she knew that it wasn't a change of heart, it was that she had always loved Harry and Cedric was just…a good friend. She knew that she would always feel a tinge of guilt but so did Harry. Maybe she was being too noble, not going after what she wanted because she felt she would be letting someone dead down. Should she give herself and Harry a chance? Did she dare? "Yes," her heart already answered.

That was before. Now, as she stared at the couple in front of her kissing, she wondered whether she was losing it. She knew even though neither of them looked up that it was Harry and Hermione. Before her shocked eyes, Harry did indeed look up. Maybe she had been in self-denial earlier, but now… As his eyes fell upon her standing there, she spun round and ran. Before she knew it, she found herself at the lake. She looked at the swirling water and tried to manage her thoughts. How could he be kissing Hermione? What about him and me? I thought he loved me. It was only then that she realized how important he had become to her. How he had gradually buried his way into her heart. And yet, paradoxically, it seemed she no longer existed in his. Was he just trying to ease his guilt over Cedric's death by consoling Cedric's grief-stricken girlfriend? Her heart burnt at the thought. "God, I love him," she finally admitted. That was the only reason she could be so hurt at this juncture. She was so jealous at Hermione and was mad enough to kill Harry. "What if he doesn't love me?" she feared. She didn't even dare to think that but a voice in her immediately answered, "If he did, he wouldn't be kissing Hermione."

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Harry saw Cho and knew what she must be thinking of when she ran off. He instantly let go of Hermione and ran after Cho. "Shucks…this time I really blew it," he thought to himself. Why must this always happen to me? But now he knew how deep his feelings for Cho ran. He would never feel the same with another girl. With Hermione in his arms, he felt nothing but by just thinking of Cho, there's such a wealth of emotion and warmth. "I have got to explain…I can't live without her," his thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to find her. (A/N: I think this is quite extreme again.) He had followed her out of the school and she just disappeared. How was he going to find her in such darkness? Suddenly he saw a shadow moving near the lake. Knowing that it would be Cho, he was still for a while as he was so relieved to have found her. He walked swiftly towards her but faltered over the last few steps as he did not know what to say.

"I know you're there Harry and I don't feel like talking right now," Cho sensed his presence and hoped he took her hint to leave.

"Please, we need to talk." Harry said.

"We can talk some other time," Cho replied.

"We have to talk now," Harry maintained.

"Can't you just leave me alone for a while?" Cho exclaimed in frustration, spinning around to pin him with a stare.

She knew she shouldn't have looked him in the eye. It was just so discomforting and she could feel her resolve weaken at that green gaze. He knew she was hurt but he was shocked at her ashen face. Maybe she feels the same way he does. That gave him some hope and he was going to make sure that neither of them was going to leave before making themselves clear.

"No," he said simply.

"Then I'll leave," she said coldly.

"Wait," Harry grabbed Cho's arm to stop her.

As he tried to hold on, she tried to pull herself out of his grasp. That led to a tug-of-war, and Cho stumbled and fell into Harry's waiting arms. Suddenly, time stood still as they both froze. Everything fled from Harry's mind as he stared at the vision in his arms. Before she could react, Harry lowered his head and captured her mouth, probing at first but then more passionately. The world seemed to have disappeared and the heavens turned as she couldn't help but respond to his kiss. He couldn't have had a better dream. After a while, they pulled apart breathless and intoxicated. But sanity soon returned.

"How could you do this?" Cho shouted, filled with rage at what she had allowed to happen.

"You liked it," Harry replied with a smile.

"Imbecile," Cho muttered.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have…" Harry started to say.

"Yes, you shouldn't," Cho cut in while Harry continued, "said that."

"What?" Cho was really livid.

"If you don't stop shouting, I'm going to have to kiss you," Harry threatened cheerily, thinking how beautiful Cho looked when she was angry.

"Don't you dare," Cho replied, though she was more annoyed now than angry.

"Why not?" Harry said as his arms encircled her waist.

"We have to talk" Cho said, remembering the events that led to where they were now.

"I seem to have said so earlier but you distracted me." Harry replied with a grin.

"Seriously," Cho said with some amusement.

"Seriously, I love you." Harry murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

Cho was stunned. "But…" she tried to say.

"I know that you saw what happened earlier. It was a mistake." Harry explained.

"How can it be a mistake? You…" Cho insisted.

"She kissed me," Harry cut in.

"But you kissed her back," accused Cho looking hurt.

"Why do you care anyway? You rather go to the dance with Roger Davies than me." Harry looked hurt too.

"We only went as friends." Cho explained.

"But we could have gone as friends as well." Harry argued.

"I don't want to go with you only as friends." Cho muttered with a faint blush.

"So it was because I said we could go as friends that made you reject me?" Harry said, deciding that this was not the best time to tease her.

"Yeah," she said simply.

"Then what if I ask you now, will you be my girlfriend?" Harry murmured into her ear.

"Hermione…" Cho began.

"I thought there could only be a 'Yes' or 'No'," Harry interrupted teasingly before continuing, "I never liked Hermione. You're the only one who has always been in my heart and in my mind."

"You kissed her," Cho stated.

"I thought she was you," Harry deadpanned.

"What?" Cho exclaimed.

"It's true," Harry confessed.

Seeing the sincerity in his face, Cho knew he spoke the truth and couldn't help teasing, "What's so similar about us?"

"Erm…" Harry was a lost for words.

"Aw Potter, you claim to love me and you can't see this obvious fact." Cho carried on teasing.

"Why don't you tell me then?" Harry asked with a grin.

"It wouldn't be so fun…" Cho started to say before continuing in a blush, "Okay… She likes you, so do I."

"Ah…" Harry said in mock understanding.

"That's all you can say?" Cho tried to look hurt.

"I only think of Hermione as a sister, a friend, and I do like you too." Harry replied.

"Well, there were all those rumours about you two…" Cho carried on.

"All unfounded," Harry stated at once.

"I see," Cho replied.

"Now's my turn to ask," Harry grinned mischievously.

"Is it?" Cho teased.

"Yup," Harry said before continuing in a more serious tone, "Cedric."

"Oh…him," Cho mumbled.

"It's alright if you prefer not to say." Harry tried to ease the tension.

"Nah, it's better to clear this up. I never loved Cedric more than as a friend." Cho stated.

"But…you guys…last year…" Harry stumbled over his words.

"He loved me. I thought it would be suave to go out with someone like him at first but I couldn't make myself love him." Cho replied.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I liked someone else, I guess." Cho smiled at him.

"You guess? There's only you're sure or you're not sure." Harry joked.

"Then I'm sure." Cho grinned.

"You didn't seem to reciprocate my feelings," Harry said, looking a little hurt.

"How do you know if that guy is you?" Cho teased.

"Number one, you responded when I kissed you, number two, you like me, number three, you're jealous of Hermione…need I go on?" Harry teased back.

"You're not sure over all that," Cho tried to make things difficult.

"Want me to make sure?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Nope. I admit. Alright." Cho surrendered.

"No, you've got to specify." Harry teased.

"I love you," Cho murmured with a grin.

Harry was taken aback at her candidness initially but soon lightly kissed her and replied, "I love you too."

"Why did you wait until now to tell me?" Harry asked in a soft whisper.

"I was kind of guilty since Cedric just died," Cho started before going into the whole explanation of her guilt.

"It's not your fault. It was more my fault than anyone else's." Harry said.

"Why don't we call a truce or we'd be fighting over whose fault it was?" Cho teased but was glad to change the subject.

"Sure, anything for my girlfriend." Harry replied with a smile playing on his lips.

"Who said anything about being your girlfriend?" Cho said in mock anger.

"Well, let me try again. Will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?" Harry asked seriously, with hope evident in his eyes.

"Um…" Cho tried to look indecisive and sent fear surging through Harry before continuing, "Yes."

Harry did not realize that he had been holding his breath until he exhaled in relieve at her answer. They just stood there, looking at each other with silly smiles on their faces, until Harry bent his head to seal their relationship with a kiss. "I love you so much," he whispered softly in between kisses. After a long while, he lifted his lips from hers and looked into her glowing eyes, seeing his own happiness reflected in them.

"Want to go back to the Hall?" he asked with a smile.

"Nah, I think the dance should be over soon," Cho returned the smile.

"Then where do you want to go?" Harry inquired.

"What about we just wander about the school. It's pretty cold out here." Cho suggested.

"Sure, as long as I'm with you," Harry grinned.

They spent the next few hours together, just enjoying each other's company, often stealing a kiss here and there. Happiness was evident in their voices and they never ran out of things to talk about. They shared with each other about their lives, their ideals…and held nothing back.

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Meanwhile, Hermione, left alone in the hallway was stunned at the sudden change of events. She was hurt that Harry had left her so suddenly, with no explanation. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and was about to run back to her dorm when she noticed someone standing in the shadows. She sensed some familiarity towards that figure and edged her way closer to take a look.

"Ginny," she said tentatively.

"Yes, it's me." Ginny replied.

"You saw everything," Hermione said.

"Yes," Ginny said simply.

"Sorry, I…er…" Hermione stammered.

"It's alright. He doesn't like me anyway." Ginny was surprised that she could reply so calmly.

Just then, Hermione thought, "Maybe it's because he saw Ginny that he ran off. Maybe he realized that he liked her." Then she continued resolutely, "But I won't give him up without a fight. I love him so much. If I love him enough, he'll love me back."

Remembering that she was with Ginny, she said, "How do you know anyway? He might not tell you about his feelings."

"He doesn't like me," Ginny insisted, knowing that Hermione thought that she was the third party who stole Harry's heart.

"Don't you dare take him from me. He's mine." Hermione said wildly. (A/N: Don't worry, Hermione is not bad throughout the story…)

"I already said…" Ginny tried desperately to knock some sense into Hermione.

"Try to say you don't like him," Hermione smirked, seeming like an evil force was pushing her.

"I…" Ginny stuttered before continuing angrily, "I can't believe I thought you to be a good friend of mine."

Ginny stalked off. She couldn't believe that Hermione would accuse her of lying. She was so angry that she even momentarily forgot that Harry had ran after Cho earlier.

Hermione trudged back to the common room. She couldn't think properly. What was happening to her? Love was supposed to make the world go round. Love was supposed to bring joy. Why did it seem to be the opposite?

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In the Gryffindor common room, Ron and Jess were having another round of wizard chess, with Dudley watching. They had enjoyed their time together at the ball that night. Jess even suspected that she was falling for him. "I can't fall in love. I have my mission to fulfil." Jess resolved to herself. (A/N: What is the mission? I'll tell you when it's time to.) But Ron looked so cute with his red hair and his lanky frame. His eyes were just so intense as he contemplated his move on the chessboard. They were laughing cheerily when Hermione stepped in, looking like hell.

"Mione, what's wrong?" Ron immediately noticed her.

"Harry kissed me and then ran off," Hermione broke into tears.

Ron instantly stood up and went to console her and let her cry on his shoulders. Jess pretended not to look but inside, she was insanely jealous. Ron was feeling particularly murderous towards Harry at that moment. How could he hurt such a nice girl like Hermione? Ron was jealous when he heard that Harry and Hermione were going to the ball together but he kept his silence. Now, this just tops it all. He was going to murder Harry Potter.

"Why don't I accompany you to your dorm? Get some rest, it'll do you good." Ron advised.

"Yeah, I think I better." Hermione gave Ron a teary smile.

Ron escorted Hermione up, leaving Jess and Dudley together. Dudley knew that Jess fancied Ron but he rather liked her too. She is not only gorgeous but fun to be with and not at all condescending towards his knowledge of wizardry, or lack of. He would love such a girlfriend but he knows that she only thought of him as a friend.

"Why don't you take over Ron's place until he comes back?" Jess said, motioning to the unfinished chess game.

"I'm awful at chess. And Ron's chess pieces probably wouldn't listen to me." Dudley said with a smile.

"Well, you can't learn without practice." Jess returned his smile.

"Alright then," Dudley replied, won over by Jess' persuasion.

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Outside the Ravenclaw's common room, Harry was reluctant to leave Cho. Lingering over his good night kiss, he was unwilling to let her out of his arms. They just stood there with arms around each other and Cho laying her head on Harry's shoulders, enjoying a companionable silence.

Just then, Cho remembered to ask, "What are you going to say to Hermione?"

"I don't know. But I'll make it clear to her that we aren't meant to be." Harry answered.

"Don't hurt her too much alright," Cho said softly, leaning back to look him in the eye.

"I won't. She's my best friend." Harry replied before teasing, "But if you really want, I guess I could kiss and make up with her."

"Potter, you're on dangerous ground here," Cho stated, trying to act as if she were mad at him.

"I thought you'd be jealous but I guess I don't mean much to you," Harry carried on dramatically.

"You wouldn't believe how jealous I am," Cho replied with a grin.

"Good. It is healthy to be constantly jealous." Harry joked.

"Potter…" Cho's words were cut off by Harry's searching lips.

Breaking the kiss after a while, Harry murmured, "Mmm, what were you going to say?"

"Nothing important." Cho smiled. "Anyway, I think I better go."

"A little while more," Harry pleaded.

"Harry, we both know that if I don't go in now, it'd be more than a little while." Cho remarked.

"Please…" Harry begged.

Ignoring his pleas, Cho gave him a peck on his cheek and said "Night".

"Alright," he consented grudgingly, not completely satisfied. After stealing another brief kiss, he continued, " Sweet Dreams."

Cho watched until he was out of sight before entering the common room. She couldn't believe how unbelievable this night had been. She was euphoric from his kisses and just loved being with him. She couldn't stop thinking of him as she made her way up to her dorm sporting a silly grin. She slept with a smile on her face, dreaming of him all night long.

Harry was feeling the same way. He couldn't believe that they were finally a couple. Those past few hours were probably the best time of his life. He loved her so much and couldn't stop visualizing her, thinking of her, anticipating the next day, when he can see her again. He made his way to his common room, all thoughts fleeing from his mind except the image of Cho.

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A/N: There would be a scene in the Gryffindor common room, so look out for it…=) That's it for now. Hope you all are satisfied so far.

Pumpkin Hatching: Don't worry…You can carry on guessing…No harm done. =)

All others: Thanks for your reviews. I'd appreciate more though…


	9. Friendships…Relationships…Coupledom

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: These first few chapters are mainly on relationships as I want to settle that issue first before the actual action/adventure. I wouldn't mind any suggestions on what you want to see in the coming chapters and I'll try to oblige if possible. I'm leaving more possibilities for different couples so if you list your choice, you might get what you want. =) Sorry this chapter took so long. I've been busy lately.

Friendships…Relationships…Coupledom

Harry strolled into the Gryffindor common room with a dreamy smile, not noticing Ron's murderous looks towards him. As he made his way to his friends, he was still in oblivion as Ron said sarcastically, "You're finally back, I've been waiting for you," before pouncing on him. He was stunned by the punch and just stood still in disbelief as his best friend threw punches at him. If not for Jess' and Dudley's timely intervention, Harry would have been bashed into pieces. Just as Ron was about to try to go for Harry again, Fred and George walked in. They got over their initial shock and immediately kept those two apart, though Harry was not really doing anything to defend himself.

"What are you trying to do?" Harry shot at Ron after he recovered from his shock.

"How could you hurt Hermione?" Ron spat back.

Harry was speechless with that and didn't know how to reply. He did not mean to hurt Hermione and what had happened earlier was just a mistake. He did not even know how to explain his actions to the rest. He had been in ecstasy from his earlier time with Cho and was not ready for this interrogation.

"What happened?" Fred asked as George nodded his head at Fred's question.

"We're curious too. We know that Harry kissed Hermione and then left but nobody told us anything else." Jess spoke for herself and Dudley.

"Ask him," Ron motioned to Harry in anger.

"I…er…" Harry stammered.

"I can't believe you Harry. I thought you were more sensitive than that." Jess said, assuming his guilt due to his inability to explain.

"I can explain." Harry said hurriedly, seeing that Ron was about to inflict more harm upon him.

"I doubt you can say anything to change what had happened." Ron said in a feat of fury.

"Uh…" Harry was at a loss of words.

"Speak before this gets way out of hand," George urged while all the others looked at him with similar looks of anger.

Harry immediately took the lifeline they handed to him and explained that he did not intentionally mean to kiss Hermione, moreover hurt her. He gave them the gist of it, skipping all the parts with Cho and just said that he was stunned when she kissed him. He did not even know that she liked him and she wouldn't budge when he tried to resist her. At that, all except Ron who still looked pretty incensed looked at him with a kind of pity at this misunderstanding. They all seemed willing to let this matter rest but Ron was not. He seemed to think that Harry deserved to take some of the blame, of which Harry was willing to. It was rather tense between them as they walked up to their dorm with Dudley trying to act as mediator but at least they did not come to blows.

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Morning arose and both Ron and Harry woke up about the same time. Neither of them knew what to say to the other after the events of the past night. As both of them made their way down to the common room, each had conflicting thoughts running through his mind.

"Sorry," both of them said at the same time after some thought.

Before Ron could get a word in, Harry said in a rush, "I really didn't intend to hurt Hermione but I just don't feel that way towards her. She's a good friend and I don't want to lose the close friendship that we share."

"I guess I over-reacted last night. I just felt a need to defend her." Ron replied.

"I knew you liked her," Harry smirked.

"I don't know how I feel. It's just that…Argh…I don't know…" Ron tried to explain.

"Ah…that's something called love," Harry smiled at his friend's confusion.

"How would you know? You haven't been in love." Ron mumbled.

"Just don't hurt Hermione. I'll come after you if you do." Harry threatened cheerfully.

"It was you who had hurt her," Ron said, regaining some of his vigor.

"To me, she's just like a sister I never had." Harry stated.

"Talking about sisters, you better not hurt mine," Ron said, trying to change the subject.

"Huh…" it was Harry's turn to be confused.

"Don't pretend, Hermione said that you ran off last night because you saw Ginny watching you guys 'kiss'. It's obvious you like her, future brother-in-law." Ron grinned.

"What? Ginny saw us too?" Harry questioned, intent on finding out what is going on.

"You mean that you don't know?" Ron exclaimed.

"I didn't see her at all." Harry replied.

"So why did you run? Or should I ask who saw you too?" Ron inquired cheerfully.

Trying to his a blush, Harry tried to look nonchalant as he replied, "Huh."

"Don't deny it. You mentioned someone other than Ginny saw you." Ron was having fun disarming Harry.

"Oh…" Harry mumbled, thinking furiously on ways to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

"So who was it?" Ron persisted.

"Cho," Harry muttered.

"I see…" Ron sniggered at Harry's discomfort.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

After a while of silence as they sat at a table in the common room, Ron asked, "So are you going to have a talk with Hermione?"

"Yeah, I have got to explain, though I still don't know how to break it to her" Harry answered.

"It's better to get it over sooner than later. I'm waiting for her as I promised to go to breakfast with her. Why don't you come with us, and…ah…try to ease the tension? It won't be too uncomfortable since we'd be in a group." Ron suggested.

At his words, Harry remembered that he had made plans to meet Cho about five minutes ago and exclaimed, "Shoot…I'm late."

"What are you late for? It's Sunday and there're no classes or whatnot." Ron hollered to Harry who was already dashing out of the common room.

"Guess I'll ask him later," Ron muttered to himself.

"Ask who what?" came Jess' voice as she suddenly appeared, trying to quell her joy at seeing Ron.

"Harry said he was late for something and I was wondering what he could be up to so early on a Sunday morning." Ron explained.

"You guys made up?" Jess inquired.

"We never even fought," Ron teased.

"Really," Jess said with her usual sarcasm lacing her words.

"Yup," Ron replied, smiling at their light-hearted banter.

Just then Hermione came into the common room, smiling wanly as she tried to hide her puffy eyes. Ron immediately voiced his concern but Hermione just waved it off, insisting that she was fine. Jess found herself feeling jealous as Dudley approached.

"Willing to wake up finally, sleepyhead?" Hermione was glad to shift the object of attention from her.

"It's still pretty early, you know." Dudley replied cheerfully, giving off a wide yawn.

"Early for you, but not for us," Jess cut in with a mocking smirk.

"I'm starved. Can you guys argue later? I want my breakfast." Ron groaned.

"You're always hungry," Hermione teased as they made their way to the Great Hall.

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All this while, Harry was sprinting to the Ravenclaw common room where he was supposed to meet Cho. Panting for breath, he finally spotted Cho who was surrounded by a group of friends. As if sensing his presence, Cho turned and gave him a grin. She turned back to say something to her friends who all looked at them knowingly before they left in the direction of the Great Hall.

"Hi there," he said, grinning broadly.

"Hi yourself," she replied.

"What did you say to your friends? They seem to look at me as if they know something that I don't." Harry inquired.

"I told them to scram as I want to be alone with you." Cho teased.

"Really?" Harry raised his eyebrows at her.

"No," Cho giggled before continuing, "I only said that we had something to discuss."

"I doubt that they believe you," Harry snickered as he wrapped his arms around her for a morning kiss.

In a matter of moments, Cho found herself with her back to a wall and Harry leaning into her. After a while, Harry finally broke the kiss despite Cho's protests and murmured, "Now that's a perfect way to start a new day."

"We could do that every morning if you want," Cho offered mischievously.

"If we do, we would probably never get to class." Harry's eyes twinkled.

"What a pity. That was such a great idea. I even have a good excuse to skip class." Cho said in mock sorrow.

"Well, I wouldn't mind skipping class for you." Harry replied with dramatic heroism.

"That because you gain too. You'd jump at any excuse to skip Snape's class." Cho teased.

"Of course, but that's not the main reason. This is." Harry murmured as he lowered his head.

Even after they pulled apart, they still stood in each other's embrace, basking in the magical moment. They were just savoring each other's presence when Cho, pulling his arm said, "We better get going if we're going to have breakfast."

"Ow…that hurt." Harry exclaimed at the force of her hand.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Cho said, concern written on her face.

"Ron kind of injured it last night," Harry explained.

"Was it over…?" Cho started.

"Yeah," Harry cut in before she could finish her sentence.

"You should go and see Madam Promfrey," Cho remarked.

"I'll go later. It really doesn't hurt much. What about we get our breakfast before there's no food left?" Harry tried to change the subject.

"If you say so," Cho said rather uncertainly.

"Don't worry about my arm alright. It'll be fine." Harry tried assuring her.

With that, they strolled hand-in-hand to the Great Hall talking about whatever was in their minds. They just enjoyed being with one another and felt so at ease to voice whatever they wanted to. On the way, they saw Draco with some other Slytherins who stared at him with utmost hatred. He could even hear one of them muttering, "Dumbledore's Pet". He was livid with rage but he felt Cho squeezing his hand reassuringly and felt strangely comforted. It's incredible how such little gestures from her could lift his mood.

"Thanks," he said once the Slytherins were out of their earshot.

"For…" Cho teased.

"If you weren't here with me, I would have probably tried to hex them." Harry stated simply.

Before Cho could make a reply, they heard Draco calling towards them, "Wait up."

"You're friends with him?" Cho asked incredulously.

"Don't worry. After you know him, he's actually not as bad as he seems." Harry replied with a smile.

"Are you sure? People are saying that…" Cho said dubiously.

"That he's only acting so that he can harm me. It's not true. Trust me on this okay." Harry tried to convince her.

Just then Draco caught up and gave Harry an apologetic grin, "Sorry about just now."

"It's not your fault," Harry replied while Cho just looked stunned at the sight of a Malfoy apologizing.

"Are you two…?" Draco asked, seeing their entwined fingers.

"Yeah. Are you on the way to breakfast?" Harry asked.

"Yup, my stomach's growling." Draco smiled.

"Let's go then. We're on our way too." Harry replied.

Though she was initially surprised at this different side of Draco and trusted Harry, Cho was still a little cautious. But after a while, she was also contributing to their conversations and realized that he could actually be fun to be with. Moreover, without that usual smirk on his face, he looked much more approachable. Their conversation soon shifted to Quidditch and the three seekers had fun poking fun at each other. Ravenclaw was also facing Slytherin first and both Cho and Draco were confidently saying that he/she would win.

The two just kept up their friendly sparring until Harry finally had enough. "Aw, quit it. You know that neither of you are a match for me."

Both of their heads finally snapped towards him and they started attacking him cheerfully.

"We'll see about that Potter," Draco smirked.

"Don't be so confident." Cho said with a smile.

"I'm not. That's just a fact." Harry ran before they could launch any attack on him.

They finally caught up with him just outside the Great Hall, all of them laughing heartily. As they entered, many heads turned to look at them, surprised to see that they were together as they were all from different houses. Ignoring the stares, they separated and went to their own House table, but not before Harry said softly to Cho that he'd see her at ten o'clock at the broom shed.

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Most of the Gryffindors were shocked to see Harry enter with Cho and Draco, though one more than the other. Hermione even thought that he had changed his best friends after what had happened last night while Ron was practically the only one not really stunned. He knew that Draco and Harry were friendlier now and Cho, well, Harry has always liked Cho and there was probably more to last night than what Harry gave out. The other Quidditch team members were rather surprised to see Harry hanging out with other seekers but knew that he has the right to choose his own friends.

Seeing Cho with Harry this morning made Ginny remember the last night. She guessed that they made up after that 'kiss' between Harry and Hermione. After sleeping over it, she finally convinced herself that she would never have a chance with Harry and should move on. Though she got over Harry, she was still faced with the Hermione problem. Hermione refused to believe that she never came between them and she could do nothing more than explain but Hermione refused to even listen too. She hoped that Hermione would listen to some sense soon and realize that Cho and Harry are meant to be. Ginny could see how happy the two are with each other and knew that nothing could come between them, not even Hermione.

As Harry approached the Gryffindor table, he noticed many had been staring at him. Not knowing what to do or say, he just grinned at them and took his place beside Ron. At least Ron did not seem to want to do him harm, after seeing him with Cho.

"I think you have some explaining to do." Ron grinned at him while he grabbed some food off the table. Dudley and Jessica were also looking on in interest while Hermione was pretending that nothing was happening.

"Alright, I was meeting Cho this morning. We met Draco on the way and came into the hall together." Harry said in between bites.

"I meant last night although I don't mind hearing about this morning as well," Ron grinned deviously.

"We…er…got together last night." Harry said while stealing a glance at Hermione to see how she was taking it.

"Can't you be more explicit?" Ron said exasperated.

"Later," Harry mouthed, noticing that Hermione was trying hard to control herself.

Jess and Dudley were rather surprised when they heard that Harry and Cho were together. They had not expected it after last night. Jess was happy that Harry had gotten the girl of his dreams, knowing fully well that nothing was possibly going to happen for Ron and her. He liked Hermione while she just can't fall in love. Dudley, on the other hand, admired Harry for going after the girl he liked, breaking other girls hearts in the process. He wished that he were as courageous as his cousin. He knew he was fitter and looked acceptable though not as handsome as his enigmatic cousin but he just did not have any experience with girls. This was even his first time in a mixed school. He had only been to all-boys schools in the past. Each absorbed in their own thoughts, neither noticed that the other was suddenly silent.

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In the common room, Harry noticed Hermione sitting alone in a corner reading and asked, "Can I speak to you for a second."

Shocked to suddenly hear his voice, Hermione was silent for a moment before she replied, "Sure, have a seat."

"I…er…wanted to…er…apologize for running off last night without an explanation," Harry stammered.

Thinking it's better to pretend, she replied, "I understand. I shouldn't have forced myself on you."

"Phew. I thought you would be mad at me. It's just that I only treat you as a sister. Just like Ron treats Ginny." Harry sighed in relieve.

Carrying on her act, she teased, "I hope you'll treat me better than that."

"I will. Both you and Ginny are like sisters to me." Harry grinned.

"Uh oh, did he say Ginny was also like a sister to him. She must be angry with me now." Hermione thought.

"So you are alright with me and Cho together right?" Harry continued.

"Yeah," she muttered without thinking.

"Great," Harry replied as he went off to watch Jess teaching Dudley how to play wizard chess better.

Hermione's mind was a whirlpool of chaos. Harry and Cho? How could this be? I'm much better that that Ravenclaw. I guess I have to apologize to Ginny for accusing her. Oh my, how could Harry fall for Cho Chang? I thought that was only a crush. Maybe it still is. Maybe he just doesn't realize that it is just a crush. I just have to make him see sense. I can even manipulate Ginny to help me. She's in love with Harry after all. But in the end, Harry will be mine and Cho will suffer. After all, I'm not the best student in this school for nothing. Pleased with this new knowledge, Hermione carried on with her book, not knowing that Jess was watching her.

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A/N: Lovely ending huh? What role Jess plays will be known soon. Is Hermione this bad? That will also be revealed so just wait patiently. How will it all turn out? This is barely the beginning. Though the plot travels pretty slow, it will get more heated up in a few chapters to come. Just want to tie up some loose ends first, in case I forget to later. =) Now, do you see the box below? Just a hint for you guys to review. I need reviews to write better. Thanks to those who have reviewed so far.

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	10. The Order of the Phoenix

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: Things are still pretty stale in this chapter but you'll learn that Hermione is kind of 'different'. Whether she's good or bad in the end, I'll let you guys choose cause both ways are just as challenging to write and I can't choose =). So just leave me a note on what you want Hermione to be and who you want her to be with. Thanks. Since I took so long to update, this chapter is much longer.

The Order of the Phoenix

Waiting for Cho in the broom shed, Harry could not help but smile at the thought of how lucky he was. None of his friends were angry with him and he had the girl he loved as his girlfriend. Life just couldn't be better. Then his face darkened. What if Voldemort tried to hurt them? He couldn't bear losing any of them. Sirius was also in danger though he was at Hogwarts. His name had not been cleared and moreover, he still had to help Dumbledore. Classes are not progressing fast enough for him. He needed to know more to defend against Voldemort. All the late night classes were helping but they were still just not enough. He needed to find the stone. That was his only hope. Deep in thought, he didn't notice Cho sneaking up behind him and froze momentarily when two strong arms snaked around his waist from behind.

"A penny for your thoughts," Cho said as Harry turned to face her.

"Huh…I wasn't thinking of anything…" Harry muttered.

"What's wrong?" Cho asked upon seeing Harry's troubled face.

"Er…Nothing," Harry stated.

"Is it Hermione?" Cho guessed.

"Nope. It's rather difficult to explain." Harry tried to close the topic with that excuse.

"Try me," Cho smiled. He was just so easy to figure out.

"Voldemort's gaining power fast," Harry mumbled.

"Was that difficult to say?" Cho tried to ease his disturbed self, though she felt rather worried.

"I can feel him getting stronger and if he gains more power, he'd be practically invincible." Harry continued, glad to finally get this off his chest.

"Don't worry so much. Here at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore would be able to protect the school." Cho gave him a comforting hug.

"Professor said that I was the only one who could defeat Voldemort and that's only if I have the stone." Harry said bitterly.

Stunned and suddenly afraid that she might lose him, Cho, trying to make her voice appear neutral, replied, "What stone?"

Tentatively, Harry described what Professor Dumbledore had told him at the beginning of the term. He felt so relieved to finally say it all out. Even Ron and Hermione did not know the least of it all. Cho just kept her silence and listened without interrupting. She understood that this was a difficult time for Harry and he was pressurized by the hopes of everyone. It was as if everyone's lives lay in his hands and he was only a fifteen-year-old boy. She herself was afraid over the harm the reign of Voldemort can cause and Cedric's death last year just made everything seem more real. Knowing better than to say anything, she just hugged him and let him seek solace in her arms.

After a while of silence, Harry finally looked up and said brightly, "Ready to fly?"

"More than ready," Cho teased, glad that he was more or less back to normal, though there was still a glimmer of unrest in his eyes.

On reaching the Quidditch Pitch, they immediately took to the sky and had fun just enjoying the feeling of being in the air and each other's company. They laughed and chatted in the air, chasing each other about, challenging each other on occasion, forgetting their worries momentarily. They even let out the Snitch, daring the other to take it before each did.

"Ready to admit defeat?" Harry smirked after catching the Snitch ahead of Cho for the umpteenth time.

"Uh…" Cho flashed Harry an innocent look before darting to his side and snatching the Snitch from him, "Never."

"Hey…Cheater, asking to be punished huh?" Harry threatened cheerfully.

"Only if you can catch me," Cho flew off.

Chasing after her, Harry yelled, "With that broom of yours, it'd be easy to catch up."

"Maybe…But then again, maybe not." Cho pulled into a steep descent and landed gently on the pitch.

Landing only seconds after her, Harry stalked towards her, snarling playfully, "That bodes badly for you."

"Really?" Cho smiled.

"Definitely." Harry murmured before kissing her.

"That didn't feel like a punishment," Cho kidded.

"It wasn't." Harry smirked. "This is." Harry kissed her thoroughly.

******************************

The coming Saturday was the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin Quidditch match. Both Cho and Draco were excited at facing each other. They knew each others skill and both would love to win the match against each other. Being the captain of Slytherin, Draco tried to choose players with more skills instead of brute strength but none of the Slytherins were great and in the end he had to go for strength, as the skills of all the Slytherins were basically the same, lousy. He himself had improved after training with Harry and Cho at times and he knew that he had to catch the Snitch if Slytherin was to win. He did not like the Slytherins but he still wanted his house to win. On the other hand, Cho was confident about the match. Ravenclaw had basically the same team as last year except for two chaser additions. But the two new members were equal to if not better than the previous two chasers so they had a pretty good chance of winning the match. The only thing was that Draco had a faster broom than her.

That morning, the school was excited to see its first Quidditch match in about a year. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were both rooting for Ravenclaw, leaving the Slytherins to cheer for themselves. Harry was basically the only person who went to wish Draco good luck. As both teams left for the Quidditch pitch, Harry also left to have a word with Cho before her match.

Walking up with her to the broom shed, he said, " Fancy your chances in the match?"

"Definitely. Other than Draco, the whole of the Slytherin team are really awful. I wonder if they would even stay on the broom without falling." Cho teased.

"Aw, over-confident, aren't we?" Harry grinned.

"Even though you did wish Draco luck and not me, I still think Ravenclaw would win." Cho carried on teasing mercilessly.

"Since you're so confident, I doubt you even need luck." Harry returned her teasing.

Cho tried to look hurt while Harry continued in mock exasperation, "Oh fine, G'luck."

"Not sincere enough," Cho joked.

Kissing her, Harry murmured, "How sincere do you want me to be?"

"Well…that should be sincere enough if that's a good luck kiss," Cho said cheerily.

"I give up," Harry exclaimed as they entered the broom shed.

"Oh, gosh." Cho exclaimed.

"What?" Harry asked instantly, wondering what changed the subject.

"My broomstick…" Cho pointed to the three pieces of it on the ground.

"Who did it? Harry asked.

"I don't know. I don't think I have any enemies unless it's some Slytherin loser. Now how am I to play in the match?" Cho said angrily.

"You can use my Firebolt if you want." Harry offered.

"But…" Cho started to say.

"It's only my spare broomstick anyway. I'll go to my dorm and get it for you." Harry cut in.

"I can use one of the school broomsticks instead." Cho said.

"If you use a school broomstick, you'd fall off it before some Slytherin." Harry teased.

"Criticizing my flying skills now." Cho replied, with more frustration than anger.

Happy that she was no longer looking angry, Harry cajoled, "No, but you'd feel more comfortable on my broomstick. At least, you have flew on it before when we were practicing together."

"Wouldn't it be unfair if I use your broomstick?" Cho asked.

Amazed that she would still be thinking of unfairness at this time, Harry chuckled, "What someone did to your broomstick was unfair."

"Well…" Cho said, still rather uncertain.

"Just use the Firebolt. It would be fine." Harry assured her.

"Okay," Cho said, seeing that Harry was not going to back down.

"I'll go and grab my Firebolt while you talk to your team members." Harry gave Cho a peck on her cheek before dashing off.

By the time Harry sprinted all the way to his dorm and back, both teams were already on the pitch. Cho's team members were all miffed when they heard about her broomstick and they all suspected that it was one of the Slytherins. The whole school was surprised when they saw Cho walking over to where Harry was. He just passed her his Firebolt and whispered good luck before walking off to where his friends were sitting on the stands.

"Why did you lend Cho your Firebolt? Ron asked.

"Her broomstick was harmed and cannot be used." Harry said shortly as he had also been thinking about that.

"Maybe she harmed it herself so that she can use your Firebolt." Hermione said a little maliciously.

Frowning, Harry replied, "How could you say that, Mione? She was devastated." He knew that Hermione was a tad upset about his relationship with Cho but he drew the line at her insulting his girlfriend.

"Just a comment." Hermione tried to cover herself up.

She was furious that Harry loan his Firebolt to Cho. She wanted to pay Cho back for stealing Harry from her by making her forfeit this Quidditch match or using one of the lousy school broomsticks, but she never expected this. "Never mind, Cho will get her retribution. This is only one failure. I will get Harry in the end." Hermione thought.

The match started, and with a superior broomstick, Cho had a head start on Draco. The Ravenclaw beaters found it relatively easy to stop the Slytherin chasers, with bigger and slower targets to aim at. The Ravenclaw chasers were up by fifty points when the snitch first came into sight. Draco saw it first but Cho gave chase and blocked him superbly when she realized that she would not reach it before him. Within that few seconds, the snitch disappeared.

"Aw Cho, why did you have to block me?" Draco complained good-naturedly.

"Easy, because I want to win." Cho smiled.

"By the time the snitch next appears, you guys might be leading by more than a hundred and fifty points." Draco muttered.

"Your team in not playing really well." Cho said.

"You do not need to console me. They're playing like shit." Draco said.

"Good luck then." Cho said.

"I need it," Draco said before they flew off in different directions.

Soon the Ravenclaws were leading by a hundred and twenty points. The snitch then appeared again. Both Cho and Draco saw it at the same time and were at approximately equal distance from it. Having a better broomstick and no bludgers shot at her, Cho reached it first. As the Ravenclaw team landed triumphantly, Draco was ruing his defeat. He knew he had to find a better team. None of his chasers scored and none of his beaters even got a glimpse of a bludger. Their size did not even count as the agile Ravenclaws dodged the bigger Slytherins easily.

"Tough luck, Draco." Harry called out as he weaved his way through the crowd to his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I need a much better team." Draco walked off, shaking his head, deep in thought.

Reaching Cho, Harry teased, "Neither of the Slytherins fell off their broomsticks."

"Well, they had better balance than I thought, I guess." Cho replied.

"You all overwhelmed them," Harry grinned.

"Yeah, I wonder how Draco's taking it?" Cho said.

"Not too well, but he knows that he has a pretty lousy team." Harry replied.

"Thanks for your broomstick." Cho was about to return the Firebolt to him.

"Keep it until you get a new one. You need it to practice and possibly for your next game." Harry said.

"But…" Cho said.

"No buts alright. Keep it." Harry grinned.

"Okay, but I'll return it soon." Cho replied.

"So how're you going to celebrate the win?" Harry smiled.

"What do you suggest?" Cho teased.

"Not celebrating with the rest of the team," Harry inquired, still smiling.

"There's time before and after…" Cho said mischievously.

"Well, I might take you up on that offer." Harry replied, wrapping his arms around her.

"Might or will?" Cho murmured before their lips came together.

******************************

Trying to make Harry jealous, Hermione hung out more with Ron, who was elated at finally being noticed by her, and pretended not to mind about Harry and Cho's growing relationship. But both Draco and Jessica thought that Ron and Hermione's closeness was real and were jealous. Though neither professed their love, seeing their loved one with someone else was torment. Draco became lonelier with Harry spending more and more time with Cho, and also jealous that Ron got the only girl he had ever loved. He threw himself into studying and seldom talked to anyone other than an occasional word with Harry or one of the Professors. Jess knew that Ron being with someone else was all for the best but she couldn't pretend to be indifferent to Ron and Hermione's seemingly newfound relationship. Consequently, she became closer to Dudley and the rest of the Gryffindors as the others seem to have found their other halves. Harry also noticed his growing distance from Hermione and thought that she probably needed more time to get used to his relationship with Cho. He was also glad to see his two best friends together, though he knew that Draco liked Hermione too.

Meanwhile, Hermione spent more time at the library. Remembering what Harry had offhandedly mentioned about the third task of the Triwizard Tournament last year, she had an idea that she could bring back the dead. She researched many books, thinking that if only she could bring back Cedric, Harry would be hers. She went through book after book but nothing came up. She knew she had to research the Restricted Section if she wanted to find out more but she needed a teacher's slip for that and there was practically no way she could get one. But then again, she was the top student and if she wanted to do additional research, the teachers would not be suspicious. So, maybe there was a way after all.

Unable to keep her mind off Hermione and Ron, Jess found her eyes always straying towards them. Resolving to stop this mad obsession, Jess suddenly found her eyes reverted to Hermione and was shocked to see an evil gleam there. Jess immediately followed Hermione's line of vision and was stunned to see Hermione's eyes riveted on Cho. Thinking that her eyes might be playing tricks on her, Jess wrote it off as some error but she found herself observing Hermione more and noticed that Hermione was not as all right about Cho and Harry's relationship as she had said she was. She also remembered what happened to Cho's broom and suspected it was Hermione and not one of the Slytherins who harmed it. Uncertain as to what was really going on though she had her suspicions, Jess decided to just keep her eyes open and find out more before she says anything to someone else. Besides, she was supposed to protect Harry and whatever Hermione was planning might affect him too. (A/N: More on Jess will be revealed soon. Wait patiently…=).) The thought that Ron might also be hurt crossed her mind but she quickly suppressed that thought. "Remember all the instructions drilled into you. Don't you let them down…" Jess thought angrily to herself.

Subsequently, Jess found excuses to accompany Hermione about and even followed her with an invisibility cloak at times. (A/N: She had one too. Where did she get it? Just wait and see…) A week passed and she was close to frustration. Not only did Hermione behave perfectly, Jess had also caught Hermione together with Ron on many occasions. Though they were not kissing, she still felt insanely jealous. Just when she was about to give up, she realized how often Hermione spent in the library. Hermione always spends a lot of time there but it seemed that she had spent even more time there lately. She did not follow Hermione to the library earlier as she had thought that Hermione only went there to study but now there seemed to be a huge possibility that the library could be the key to the mystery. After seeing Hermione only doing homework in the library, Jess started to leave but when she saw Hermione suddenly entering the Restricted Section, she forgot all thoughts of leaving and followed Hermione. She was astonished when she saw Hermione pulling out books on bringing back the dead and such.

Knowing that this is the most she could find, Jess left Hermione to her 'extra' research and went for a walk about the school, hoping to piece together what was happening. Suddenly, she recalled something about a student dying in Hogwarts last year. Maybe that student was who Hermione wanted to bring back but how could it be related to Cho. She reminded herself to find out more about this and was turning back to the school when she bumped into Dudley.

"How's it going? Haven't talked to you alone for a while." Dudley asked.

"Um…" Jess mumbled, not sure whether to tell him or not.

"We're both here to protect Harry, so if it's related to him…" Dudley tried to make her talk.

"Well, I found Hermione behaving strangely lately and have been following her about this past week. Today, I just found out that she was trying to bring back some dead person. I think it's that guy who died at Hogwarts last year but I'm not sure why." Jess explained.

"What? You know all this and never told me." Dudley exclaimed.

"I only suspected all this. I just found out about an hour ago." Jess said crossly.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Dudley asked.

"I don't know. I think that Hermione is jealous of Cho but then, how is this all related?" Jess replied.

"Wait a minute, Hermione is jealous of Cho?" Dudley had a stray thought.

"She pretends not to, but I always see her looking at Cho and Harry." Jess said.

"I got it," Dudley said, not even listening to what Jess said.

"Huh, what?" Jess was confused.

"Cedric was Cho's ex-boyfriend." Dudley said.

"Cedric??" Jess asked.

"The guy who died last year." Dudley said impatiently,

Jess caught on. "So you mean to say that Hermione wants to bring Cedric back so that Cho would leave Harry and…"

"Yes." Dudley said.

"Oh my, how are we going to stop this?" Jess exclaimed.

"For one, we can't tell Harry." Dudley said.

"Why not? He can stop all this from happening." Jess was confused again.

"He won't believe us. He's too loyal to his friends. Believe me, I've been living with him for fifteen years." Dudley said.

"And I don't think you guys have been close until last summer," Jess smirked.

"It was the Order's orders. And I had to suck up to those Dursleys to let me stay after they took the Order's bait and adopted me when they found out that they couldn't have children. Anyway, I think that Petunia didn't want to get fat either. Back to the main point, I had to keep an eye on him so I should know." Dudley said smugly.

"I guess we can take turns at following Hermione about and find out more before we do anything else. I don't think there's a way to bring someone back from the dead anyway." Jess suggested.

"There might be a way in Dark Magic." Dudley said tentatively.

"Well, I doubt Hermione would resort to that." Jess said.

"Alright," Dudley agreed, amid a little reluctantly.

"So, you never told me how you managed to fool Harry that you weren't a wizard." Jess changed the subject.

"From what I know, I was an orphan and only came to know about magic at about the same time as Harry. He got to come to school here but I had to have magical knowledge injected in me. It was also then that I found out that the Order put me with the Dursleys to protect Harry. By then, I already had about ten to eleven years of Muggle knowledge so fooling Harry was pretty easy. I was happy to know that I had to come to Hogwarts to protect Harry this year. Living with the Dursleys is like hell. I even had to have that 'fat' spell on me. I'd also never been away from the Dursleys so my astonishment at the wizarding world is real. That's about it." Dudley explained.

"Wow, what a life. You're lucky Professor Dumbledore asked us here this year." Jess smiled.

"By the way, should we tell Professor about Hermione?" Dudley asked.

"I think we should find out more first. He would believe us but we're not sure about our theory yet." Jess replied.

******************************

Looking up from his game of wizard chess with Harry, Ron saw Dudley and Jess entering the common room. He was surprised that he was upset to see them together. He had been happy to have grown closer to Hermione lately and hoped that they could have a relationship together. After all, he had liked Hermione for like ages. But he didn't know what he felt towards Jess. He had been happy to go to the ball with her even though they only went as friends. The one he truly loves is Hermione. Jess is just a friend. Satisfied, he turned back to his chess game but he still had a niggling thought that he had the wrong mindset.

Meanwhile, Hermione was in the library, frustrated that she could not find anything to help her in her quest. Finally, as she made one last attempt to delve deep into the load of library books, she found one weird, totally black book. Feeling excited, she opened the book to read but there was nothing inside. Thinking that this book might help her, she brought the book with her out of the library, promising herself that she would return it if it doesn't help.

******************************

Lord Voldemort saw the girl taking the book and laughed menacingly, "So the girl took my bait, Potter will be dead soon."

"Yes, master. Potter will no longer be a threat." Wormtail said in agreement.

"He was never a threat. I am much more powerful than him." Voldemort said.

"Yes, master. I was wrong." Wormtail said fearfully.

"Since you're so apologetic, I won't punish you. But next time…" Voldemort threatened.

"It won't happen again." Wormtail shuddered.

Voldemort motioned to the other man in the room, "Malfoy, your son is siding with Potter."

"Draco is no longer my son. He is not a Malfoy." Lucius Malfoy said resolutely.

"He had talent but he chose the wrong side. I will prevail." Voldemort said.

******************************

Harry woke up drenched in sweat. What did Voldemort mean by saying that the girl took the bait. Who was the girl? Wasn't Lucius Malfoy in Askaban? Not caring that it was the middle of the night, Harry dashed to Dumbledore's office. When he entered, he was surprised to see Jess and Dudley there as well.

"What's wrong?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Um…" Harry looked towards Jess and Dudley.

"You can trust them Harry. They're part of the Order of the Phoenix." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Huh?" Harry was confused.

"It is a group of people whose main purpose is to defeat Voldemort. We are separate from the Ministry and don't work well together." Professor Dumbledore explained.

"But Jess and Dudley…" Harry asked.

"They're also part of the Order." Professor Dumbledore said, also explaining how they were here to protect Harry and how Dudley had protected Harry all his life.

"Thanks you guys, but I can protect myself." Harry said.

"The more people, the better." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Yeah," Jess murmured in agreement.

"Who else are in this Order?" Harry asked.

"Sirius, Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall and a few others including myself." Professor Dumbledore said before suddenly remembering, "Oh, you are too."

"Me? But…" Harry said.

"Yes, you. And you can't back out. There is a magically created quill, called the Phoenix quill, and it writes the names of future members when they are born." Professor Dumbledore explained.

Harry was shocked. He had come to talk about his dream and now had more than enough information to boggle his mind.

"How come I was only told now?" Harry asked.

"We only tell members when they are fifteen. Well, these two are exceptions. Dudley had to know to protect you and Jess is my niece." Professor Dumbledore smiled.

"So is anyone else in the fifth year a member?" Harry inquired.

"Yes, Draco. You both can come to my office after breakfast. Then I'll explain to you both more about the Order." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Draco?" Harry wondered why him.

"His father is a death eater but Draco is his own self. He was also like you, given a choice to choose between going to Gryffindor or Slytherin but he chose Slytherin because he was still under his father's shadow. But he has matured over the past few years and finally joined our side. He, like you, has powers he is unaware of, but will grow into his powers soon." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Oh…" Harry said.

"So what was your dream about?" Professor Dumbledore questioned.

"Huh," Harry was shocked that the Professor knew what he came about.

"The only thing that could cause you to come to my office at this unholy hour is a dream," Professor Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eyes.

Harry described his dream and both Dudley and Jess were shocked to hear about the girl part. Professor Dumbledore was still calm and composed, as if he expected all this.

"Professor, I know who the girl is," Dudley and Jess said at the same time.

"And who might that be?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Looking at Harry uncertainly, Jess muttered, " Hermione."

"No! It can't be Hermione." Harry yelled.

"Calm down, Harry. Let Jess explain." Professor Dumbledore soothed.

Jess explained what she had found out and left Harry dumbfounded. "It can't be. She seemed to take my relationship with Cho fine. Hermione had been my best friend since first year. She can't do this to me." Harry thought to himself in denial. But there was also the niggling thought that Hermione had taken the news of his relationship with Cho too easily. She had also accepted his apology readily. And now Jess had evidence. What was really going on?

Trying to change the subject, Harry asked, "Is Lucius Malfoy out of Askaban?"

"The Dementors had turned to Voldemort so yes, Malfoy is out." Professor Dumbledore said.

"What about Draco and his mother?" Harry asked.

"Narcissa is Voldemort's sister. Naturally, she is on his side. I think Draco is taking this news pretty badly. He will probably stay in school during the holidays." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Oh, anyway, I had better go back to sleep. G'night." Harry said.

"Harry," Dudley was about to call when Professor Dumbledore motioned for him to let Harry go.

"Why did you…?" Dudley started to say.

"He needed time to absorb this news. That is his best friend we are accusing." Professor Dumbledore explained.

******************************

angel: Thanks so much for reviewing. Glad you liked the story so far. Well, I think it'll be H/C as I rather have a H/C or Mary-Sue. I don't really see Harry with Hermione or Ginny yet. =) But then again, for Harry and Cho to be together, it might not be easy.

Zenya: I usually write once a week. Faster if I've no school, longer if I've got tests or exams.

All others: Thanks for reviewing. Do leave suggestions and comments.

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	11. Learning More

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to the gifted Joanne Kathleen Rowling so don't sue me! All I have are my plot and my computer =).

A/N: This chapter is mainly information. Next chapter would hopefully be more action. =) After a long break when FF.net was down, I got pretty lazy but now the story's back. Sorry for the long time I took to write this chapter. R/R.

Learning More

Unable to sleep, Harry grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders Map and went for a walk to organize his thoughts. Hearing so much new things at one go really messed up his mind. He did not know what to think anymore. How could Hermione be bad? She was his best friend. She had even fought Voldemort with him. Something must be wrong somewhere. She couldn't intentionally hurt him, right? Ah…he himself did not know anymore. This was all so darn confusing. Without his knowledge, Sirius saw him leaving the castle and decided to follow him for fear that he might be harmed.

As he strolled around the grounds, Harry ran through all the times he had been with Hermione. He knew that she kind of liked him but she wouldn't resort to such drastic means, would she? It was as if he did not know her anymore. Then he remembered the incident with Cho's broomstick. It couldn't be Hermione, right? Thinking about the broomsticks, he remembered that he had the match against Hufflepuff the next day and should be getting to sleep. He tried to forget all he found out earlier that night and tried to focus on the Quidditch match as he made his way back to the castle. He was shocked when he turned and saw a black, shaggy dog.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?" Harry exclaimed.

"I saw you leaving the castle and felt worried." Sirius changed into human form.

"Oh…" Harry said.

"What's wrong?" Sirius inquired with concern on seeing his godson's troubled face.

"It's just…" Harry poured out what had been bothering him.

"Don't think so much about it. From my knowledge, Hermione would not do something like that but then again, love can change someone, especially if she loves you." Sirius ended teasingly.

"But I don't love her." Harry moaned.

"That brings me to the next point, when am I going to meet the girl who has captured my godson's heart? I heard that he's become quite a heartthrob lately." Sirius teased.

"I had better be going back to my dormitory. I might be missed." Harry tried to change the subject.

"Don't think I won't pursue this. But since it's late and you have already been through a lot tonight, I'll let you go for now." Sirius warned cheerily.

******************************

Harry woke up with a groan. He was still tired from lack of sleep after the late night. But he remembered that he had to see Dumbledore before his Quidditch match and hurried. He made his way to the Slytherin table during breakfast to tell Draco that Dumbledore wanted to see them both after breakfast. After eating a hurried breakfast, Harry rushed out of the Great Hall. Seeing Harry leave, Draco followed. Some students were still shocked to see Harry socializing with Draco but they kept quiet after having been snapped at before.

"What does Dumbledore want to see us about?" Draco asked when he finally caught up with Harry.

Harry explained what he had learnt the night before and Draco was shocked to learn that his father was no longer held in Askaban. He was now practically homeless, as he knew that his mother would follow his father. He also never expected to be part of this Order. He had heard about it from his father before and learnt that this group of people is more powerful than even the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry even enlisted their help at times. Their identities were all kept hidden and only those who are part of the Order knew who each other actually were.

"Sugar Quill," Harry said upon approaching the gargoyle.

"How do you know the password?" Draco asked, rather amazed.

"I've always been a frequent visitor," Harry joked.

"Good morning," Professor Dumbledore said as they entered.

"Morning," Harry and Draco said rather tentatively, not knowing what to expect.

"You both know that you are part of the Order of the Phoenix?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Seeing them nod their heads, Professor Dumbledore continued, "The Order's main aim is to rid the world of all evil and at the moment, that evil is Voldemort. We are a secret group of people and no one, I repeat, no one is to know of our actual identity. When we go on missions, we take on a completely different identity so that nobody would recognize us."

"Do we use the Polyjuice potion?" Harry asked.

"No. The Polyjuice potion only lasts for an hour or so and we can't be drinking it every hour during missions. We use a completely different potion that only needs to be taken once to change our identity for an indefinite period of time. This potion allows a person to change into a person of another identity once taken. You only need to focus on that person in your mind. To change back to your original self, you take another potion. The only side effect is that if there is no counter potion, so we do not know how long one would have to stay in one's 'new' identity until one can change back."

"So now that we are in the Order, what do we do and…" Harry began questioning.

"Your parents were also part of the Order, Harry. From your linage, we already know that you are a very powerful wizard, in fact the most powerful wizard living when your powers develop. If I'm not wrong, you are the core of the Order. You would be the one leading in the attack against Voldemort. As for Draco, your mother is Voldemort's sister, and being his nephew, you are also powerful in your own right. You chose right not to follow the Dark Side and I believe you would also be vital in the defeat of Voldemort."

Both Harry and Draco were shocked when they heard Dumbledore. All Harry wanted was to be 'ordinary' and now it seemed less and less likely. Draco never even knew that his mother was Voldemort's sister. He just thought that his father supported Voldemort. Now what was going to happen to him?

As if he could read their minds, Dumbledore said, "Draco, you will be taking some of Harry's extra classes, especially in Defense and Transfiguration. You will need to protect yourself and being an animagi would also be useful. Harry will tell you when you are needed for the classes.As for your living conditions, you would be living at Hogwarts during the holidays."

Draco could only stare at Dumbledore's twinkling eyes dazedly.

"Why can Draco stay at Hogwarts and I have to go back to the awful Dursleys?" Harry exclaimed.

"It is safer at the Dursleys." Professor Dumbledore said.

"Isn't Hogwarts just as safe or even safer?" Harry replied.

"Voldemort would think to look for you at Hogwarts first. Anyway, you have a secret keeper at the Dursleys who would keep you safe there." Professor Dumbledore explained.

"Who? Dudley?" Harry asked.

"No, Mrs. Figg. She's also part of the Order." Professor Dumbledore said.

"But she's so old and…" Harry started to argue.

"Haven't you heard a word I said? People who are part of the Order never give away their true identities." Professor Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling.

"Er…" Harry said.

"You boys had better be going. You have a match against Hufflepuff right, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore dismissed them.

"Yeah," Harry said, disgruntled that Dumbledore was not going to tell him more.

As they left Dumbledore's office, Draco and Harry carried on talking rather animatedly about the Order. They both found it unexpected, yet excited about their place in the Order.

"Well, at least I have someone else to confide in such stuff in now." Harry stated.

"Don't you have your girlfriend for that?" Draco teased.

"I think that stuff on the Order are confidential, but I still might tell her eventually." Harry replied.

"What about Ron and Hermione?" Draco continued.

"Ron might be jealous. He was when I was chosen for the Triwizard Cup last year. Hermione…er…" Harry's voice faltered.

"What about Hermione?" Draco asked as Harry told him what he had learnt the night before.

"I refuse to believe that." Draco stated.

"I don't know. It all points to her but my heart tell me that it can't be her." Harry said.

"She won't do such a thing to you." Draco insisted.

"Well, you'd obviously support her." Harry teased.

"What do you mean by that?" Draco had a faint flush on his cheeks.

"Need I spell it out? Draco likes Hermione." Harry grinned.

"Hey…" Draco exclaimed, not denying it, before continuing, "Nobody else knows right."

"Well…er…no." Harry cheerfully tortured Draco.

""You better not tell." Draco threatened.

"Make me." Harry grinned mischievously.

"Potter…" Draco muttered.

"Okay…your secret is safe with me." Harry promised.

"So tell me, what're night classes like?" Draco changed the subject.

"Tiring, but you'd get used to it after a while. You only take the Defense and Animagi classes. I have to do stuff like Telekinesis, Telepathy and Apparition too." Harry said.

"What? You get to do all the cool stuff. Wow, wandless magic. Also, isn't it illegal for under-aged people to apparate?" Draco asked enviously.

"These new subjects are tough all right. We'd already be illegal animagi to give us an edge over Voldemort. Guess knowing how to apparate will help me too." Harry said.

"G'luck against Hufflepuff." Draco said as they approached the school entrance.

"Thanks." Harry said as he left for the dressing rooms.

******************************

Harry rushed into the Gryffindor dressing room where everyone was already in his or her Quidditch robes and waiting for him, "Sorry, I'm late. Dumbledore wanted to see me."

When he finally finished changing, everyone just stared at him expectantly, and not knowing what to do, he stared back in return.

"Speech please, captain," Fred called out.

"Well, I didn't prepare anything…" Harry replied haltingly.

"Just say something," George teased.

"Er, I guess…let's all go out and just play a hell of a game." Harry said after a while.

"Got to work on your speech a little, captain." George again joked as they left the dressing room.

Seeing Ron trudging alone, Harry went up to him, "Hey, don't worry, you'll do fine."

"What if I don't? This is nerve wrecking. How did you manage your first time?" Ron asked.

"I feel the same exhilaration and nerves every time before a match. But trust me, it'll all be fine once you're in the air." Harry tried to calm him while Ron just looked on in disbelief.

Just as Harry was about to say more, he heard his name being called. Seeing Cho, he told Ron to go on first without him.

"How's it going?" Cho said as she came up to him.

"Just the same as before every Quidditch match." Harry grinned.

"Nervous?" Cho asked.

"A little…" Harry replied with a smile.

"Just wanted to wish you good luck and…" Cho faltered.

"And what?" Harry asked.

"Don't feel that you have to let Hufflepuff win. None of them would want it." Cho said in a rush.

Harry was amazed that she could guess his thoughts, "Well…"

"They would feel worse if you do that." Cho stated.

"I'll play like I normally do, all right?" Harry said, though he was not really sure if he could do as he said. After all, Cho might be wrong.

"All right." Cho said before giving him a peck on his cheek. "I'll be cheering for you."

Harry made his way to the pitch, thinking over what Cho had said. When he shook the Hufflepuff captain's hand, he was still unsure but then the Hufflepuff captain also repeated what Cho had said earlier.

"Don't be guilty over Cedric. We all miss him terribly but nobody blames you. We don't want you to purposely lose this game to us because you felt that you owed us after what happened last year."

Harry just kept silent as the whole school observed a moment of silence in memory of Cedric. Harry felt a pang of guilt wash over him again but he resolved to play as normally as he could and not let Gryffindor and even Hufflepuff down. This all just reminded Hermione of what she planned to do. Seeing Harry and Cho becoming closer each day, she felt a need to do something soon. She had a feeling that the book she found the day before could help her. She just had to figure out how to use it. Once Cedric is alive again, Cho would forget all about Harry and Harry would be hers.

The match started and Gryffindor scored many goals without any Hufflepuff reply. Ron wasn't even tested once. Hufflepuff was a totally different team without Cedric and it seemed that none of them was really into the match. Suddenly when Gryffindor was eighty points up, the snitch came into sight. Harry chased after it and was hesitant as to whether to take it or not. In that few seconds of contemplation, the snitch disappeared again.

"Don't do this! Grab the snitch the next time round if you have reached it. We won't be grateful to you if you let us win." The Hufflepuff captain flew up to Harry and shouted at him.

"I would if you at least showed some interest in this match. You guys just seem to be going through the motions, not trying to score or anything at all. Seeing you all making no attempt at all only makes me want to lose this match even more." Harry yelled back.

"It seems that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff team captain are having a quarrel up there. Go on Harry, punch him." Lee Jordan, the commentator exclaimed.

"Lee…" Professor McGonagall said warningly.

"Sorry, Professor. Anyway, they are off again." Lee resumed his 'unbiased' commentary.

The Hufflepuffs could be seen making more attempts at the goals and even managed to put one past Ron who had overcome his initial nervousness to make a few rather spectacular saves. When the snitch next appeared, it was 120 - 30 Gryffindor's way. Harry again reached the snitch, and finally grabbed it after a moment's hesitation. The Gryffindor team descended, happy at the win, though Harry was still a little concerned over winning against Hufflepuff.

******************************

"Draco, ready for your first night class?" Harry asked upon meeting Draco the coming Monday night.

"Well, what are we going to learn tonight?" Draco inquired.

"Transfiguration. You would probably start with the basics of Animagi." Harry replied.

Walking into the Transfiguration classroom, Harry was shocked to see Dumbledore and Snape there with Professor McGonagall. They had never come during his lessons before and he did not know what to expect. Seeing the teachers there, Draco was pretty nervous too. This was his first time here and he was not sure what to do and such. At least he had Harry here to help him around. He wondered how Harry had coped with all this and started to admire him even more.

"Now that you're here, we can start. Harry, you're going to try and change into your animagus form today. As for Draco, we will work on your transfiguration on some parts of your body first." Professor McGonagall said.

"But how am I supposed to transfigure when I don't even know what animal I will be?" Harry asked.

"Well, Professor Snape has kindly brewed a potion that would reveal your animagi form once taken." Professor Dumbledore answered.

"Oh…all right." Harry replied.

"Once you know your animagi form, you'll spend the rest of tonight trying to change to the animal and then back to human form while Professor McGonagall works with Draco." Professor Dumbledore continued.

"Okay," Harry said, wondering what animagi form he would take.

"Severus, the potion," Professor Dumbledore motioned to Snape.

Snape handed Harry the potion that Harry drank in one gulp. He could feel himself constantly changing, one moment he had feet and another moment, he felt as if he was flying. He saw the Professors and Draco looking at him in surprise and was about to ask what was wrong but the words never came. Instead a roar sounded. Nobody did anything until Professor Dumbledore finally snapped out of his reverie and transfigured a mirror for Harry to look at himself. He himself was shocked when he saw his animagi form. He himself had never expected it. As he examined himself, he soon felt himself changing back to human form.

Both Snape and McGonagall were still speechless and Draco only let out an envious, "Wow", but Professor Dumbledore acted as if nothing extraordinary just happened, "Harry, I believe you can remember how you looked like in animagus form. Try and picture it in your mind and focus on that image and you'll eventually change."

"But how…I mean which animal?" Harry asked.

"As shocking as it is, I believe you are the first dual-animagi in magical history. Moreover, being a magical creature in animagi form is also very rare. But being you, it doesn't seem that unexpected." Professor Dumbledore explained.

"What do you mean by that Professor?" Harry asked.

"As I said before, you are the core of the Order of the Phoenix, therefore being a phoenix in animagi form is unexpected for many but not you. Having inherited Gryffindor's powers, I thought you might have been a lion, of which you did not prove me wrong. But you are beautiful in your animagi form, unlike some people who take the ugly aspects of an amimal when they change."

"So how am I supposed to change if I'm a dual-animagi? I suppose I just have to think of which animal I want to be and I'll just change to it but can I change from one form of animal to another?" Harry inquired.

"I couldn't have put it better myself. I believe that you can change from one form of animal to another but since you're the first dual-animagi, even I'm not sure myself." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Oh…" Harry said.

"I only came to see what animal you would change into. Now I have to go. Do work hard at these classes. Severus, are you leaving too?" Professor Dumbledore swept out of the room with Snape following after him.

"Well, Potter, I never expected that. We had better get down to work." Professor McGonagall said.

Before the end of the night, Harry had mastered changing back and forth from human and animagi form. He found that he could really change from one animagi form to another. He was elated with both his animagi forms - the strength of the lion and the power in the flight of the phoenix. Draco also got over his awe over seeing Harry in animagi form. It only made him more determined to learn faster and become animagi himself as soon as possible.

"I can't believe you are a dual-animagi." Draco said as they left the Transfiguration classroom that night.

"I found it hard to believe myself, especially when I became a phoenix." Harry replied.

"Are you going to tell anyone about this?" Draco asked.

"I guess Dumbledore would notify Sirius (A/N: Draco knows that Sirius is innocent.) and Professor Lupin but I don't think I'll tell anyone else yet. Maybe later. Ron and Hermione don't even know that I was training to be animagi. They all think that my classes are Defense."

"Oh. So how's Hermione been lately? Have you found out if it's really her who…" Draco started to say.

"Shoot…Dudley and Jess wanted to meet us after our lessons tonight." Harry suddenly remembered.

"Huh. What for? And where?" Draco questioned.

"I don't know. I guess I could use this to find them." Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map.

"What's that?" Draco asked, surprised to see such an old piece of parchment. Furthermore, it was blank.

"It's a map of Hogwarts. Watch." Harry muttered the words to reveal the map.

"Cool. Where did you get this from?"

"Sirius and Lupin. They are the makers of this map, together with my dad and Pettigrew." Harry spat the last name out.

"Look, Dudley and Jess are in the kitchen. How are we to get there?"

"I guess your eyes are about to be opened tonight." Harry chuckled.

Harry led the way to the portrait of the fruit basket and tickled the pear them led to the kitchen while Draco just stared on wide-eyed. As they entered, the house-elves immediately pounced on them, wanting to serve them, but they declined, making their way to where their friends were waiting for them.

"See, I told you he would find us." Dudley smirked to Jess.

"Yes, oh great one, I should have believed you." Jess replied sarcastically.

"Hey, so what did you guys want to talk about?" Harry asked as they approached.

"You guys know that we are part of the Order too right?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. By the way, are you guys who you really are? Dumbledore was telling us about different identities and such…" Draco curiously asked.

"We didn't change our identity because nobody knew who we actually are except those in the Order, but we will when we start going on 'actual' missions." Dudley replied.

"We wanted to formally welcome you guys into the Order and also to let you know that you can come to us if there's something about the Order you are unsure off." Jess explained.

"Don't tell me you made us come all the way here just to tell us this?" Harry said in disbelief.

"Uh, not really." Jess replied.

"Then?" Harry and Draco both exclaimed at the same time.

"I think you guys better sit down first." Dudley said with a smile, noticing that they were still standing.

"Now can you tell us?" Harry asked as soon as they made themselves comfortable.

"It's about Hermione…" Jess mumbled.

"We know but we still find it difficult to believe." Harry said indignantly while Draco kept silent. His mind was thinking furiously. Maybe this was a plot of Voldemort's. He knew Hermione wouldn't do this.

"But what about the evidence we have found?" Dudley retorted, thinking how obstinate Harry was.

"You guys probably made a mistake. You know that she lives in the library and books are like her mean of survival." Harry replied.

"Wait a minute. Dudley and Jess might have a point." Draco cut in.

"Aren't you supposed to be supporting me?" Harry cried out in frustration.

"I think that Hermione is under a spell of Voldemort…" Draco explained.

"You mean the Imperious?" Harry was taken by surprise.

"No. Over the holidays, my er-Father was saying something about Voldemort having found a new spell that would be useful. Everybody longs for something they can't have and this spell sorts of uses that idea to make a person obsessed with acquiring that longing. I don't know what's the use of the spell though. But I think he might have used it on Hermione to get to you." Draco continued.

"Let's say you are right. What are we going to do?" Jess said, trying to absorb all Draco had been explaining.

"I guess we should just keep an eye on Hermione. We can't do much else." Draco replied hesitantly, knowing that this was the girl he loved they were talking about.

"Yeah, we should just do that." Harry conceded that Draco might be right.

With that, they discussed their lessons that night. Dudley and Jess were amazed to hear about Harry's animagus form. They themselves were animagi but they refused to say their animagus form, saying that Draco and Harry will know when the time is right. With that, they made their way back to their respective dorms, each absorbed in each's own thoughts, especially Harry who was worried about his friends.

******************************

Unknown to them all, at that moment, there was someone in an empty classroom, preparing to do a spell. She had fallen asleep earlier and the knowledge on how to use the black book just came to her. She just had to give details on what spell she wanted, mutter an incantation and the knowledge would be indelibly etched in her mind. Harry would finally be hers.

******************************

Lord Voldemort laughed evilly. His plan was slowly falling into place. She didn't know that to bring a life back, she had to offer a life in return. He would be the one to give his life and when good and evil lives are exchanged, they would swop identities. Since he was immortal, he wouldn't die. He would effectively be a pupil in the school inside the other's body. There, he will slowly take the lives of everybody the Potter boy loves, torturing him before he finally takes his life. He didn't care about the life that would be in his body. Lucius and Wormtail would be in charge of that. And then there was Severus. He had been his most powerful Death Eater in the past. Now he was not sure if Severus could be believed. He was a crafty one and his pledge of loyalty might not even be true. Being at Hogwarts would give him a chance to keep an eye.

******************************

Zenya: I'm so glad you liked the story. Hermione would be better soon. Don't worry.

Alexia Black: Well, I don't mind H/G much but never H/H. Then again, my preference is H/C =).

Kitty: It's an honour to have this compared to a book of J.K. herself. Well, your guess is kind of on the spot.

Mrrichley: Thanks for reviewing. Love your story as well.

Faraway: As you would now have read, Hermione is not blinded by love but by a spell. It's nice to know of another H/C supporter. Aren't many around.

I do hope for more reviews. I'd like to hear to opinions and suggestions as well. It would make my writing better. Exams are coming soon so my updating will be pretty irregular. Thanks for being so patient.

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